Blurry
by BeautifulyBlue
Summary: Cary's cousin Caleb is visiting for two weeks of the summer. While he promised himself no more 'action' over the summer, Caleb's changed...in ways that aren't so good.
1. Caleb

**BeautifulyBlue: Note: This takes place over the summer, a little while after the film festival and a month before school. It's a prequel to "Shark in the Water" but it will be awesome! : ) **

Cary was shoving some spare fireworks left over from the fourth of July from a year ago…or two…or even ten under his bed. His 16 year old brother Nathan was in his own room stuffing some old sweat shirts and socks into a drawer in an un-orderly fashion. Their uncle and aunt from West Virginia would be coming and so would their cousin Caleb, who had just turned 22. Cary hadn't seen him since he was four…so ten years ago. His father was at the airport waiting to pick them up.

Damn…All Cary could remember from his last summer visit was the three chasing around some neighborhood girls with frogs in their hands. Nathan walked into Cary's room as he started covering up some sparklers and un-opened packs of yet more fire crackers with jackets and folded jeans on the shelves of his closet, he struggled to reach to top shelf as he hopped to throw a pair up there,

He crossed his arms leaning against the door frame, "You need help?"

Cary wasn't the tallest of kids, unlike his brother who was about to hit 5'11", but his big personality definitely made up for it, "Nope." he finally threw the pants to the top albeit it looked like it would fall.

"Boys you done?" their mother was in the kitchen throwing pots and pans into the cabinets, "They've just entered the city limits!"

"What city?" Nathan called, mocking the towns size, Cary laughed.

"They're in Lillian! They'll be outside our door any second!"

"You got all your fire works?"

Cary walked over to his bed, lifting up the bottom of the sheet, "All right here!"

"Awesome! This is going to be the best guys night of our lives!"

Cary and Nathan were pretty close, they both shared a love of fire (as Nathan was the one to show Cary how to use a lighter) and were more of friends than brothers. Of course they argued every so often usually over the dumbest of things, mainly when Cary bugged him to death about driving him somewhere.

Their mother rain in, she was tall, blond and slim. She was currently soaked with sweat from vacuuming, scrubbing and dusting all morning, panting from all the exhaustion, she scanned Cary's room, "All done?"

"Yup."

She walked in, she seemed to hug him but she could hear her inhaling, she looked at him shocked,

"You don't smell like smoke for once." she moved his bangs feeling his forehead, "You running a fever?" she played around, her usual attempts of being a 'funny mom' "Where is my son?"

He laughed, "Been to busy helping you clean all morning. Besides I'm saving some for when Caleb gets here!" The phone rang, their mother jumped up with a yelp making them jump as well.

"Oh…the phone." she ran out, she was always obsessed with the house being 'perfect' when family arrived, which Cary found pointless since it would be a mess within the first five minutes they were there. Nathan and Cary exchanged looks at her excitement. Nathan stepped in,

"Listen, little bro," he knelt down, "I need to tell you something."

Cary raised a frightened brow, "Last time you said tha-"

"No! No!" he laughed, last time he told Cary that, it was when he almost got his girlfriend pregnant, "You can't be…hyper or…spastic when they get here. Ok?"

Cary's smile faded.

"We're not little kids anymore, we've got to show them we've grown up to-"

Cary stepped back, "Dude, you're telling me not to be _me_. If he's our cousin, he'll get used to it trust me."

They heard the front door open and heard their mother slam the phone onto the receiver, their dad's voice,

"Boys, look who's here!"

Nathan trotted out of the room as Cary wasn't far behind until he stopped, he saw his backpack, not for school, but for all things flammable (some he made himself)! He quickly kicked it into the corner of his closet and ran out into the living room. Behind his father were their aunt and uncle with loads of luggage, hopefully enough for the two weeks they were staying. Nathan had his arms around their aunt's neck,

"Oh it's so good to see you Nathan, I knew you'd tower over me someday!" She patted his back, she was pretty short, even Cary would be looking down at her one day. Cary walked over,

"Hey Sherri." he always referred to her by her first name. He hugged her with all the energy he had, rocking her side to side,

"Cary oh! You were the size of a pint when I last saw you and…now your older!" she joked, Cary rolled his eyes and patted her back,

"Good seeing you to."

"Hey Cary!"

His uncle had already set down his suit cases, "Hey Will!"

He hugged him, on his toes. _He _was tall, he knelt down, "Ahem…_Uncle _Will." Cary pulled back,

"Nah…"

The two laughed. His mom ran in hugging her big brother and sister-in-law. Nathan grabbed the luggage taking it to the guest bedroom,

"Where's Caleb?" Cary asked.

"He should be walking in any min-" Right on cue the front door shut, Caleb was almost as tall as Nathan, which only made Cary feel short-_er_.

"This place is exactly as we left it-"

"Caleb!" Cary interrupted, running over to him. It took Caleb a second but he recognized him, expecting it to be his four year old cousin. He picked him up, dangling him over his shoulder,

"Well well, my baby cousin…"

Cary playfully squirmed to get off, "Not any more!" He grabbed his hand that was holding him down, throwing it off and after landing on his feet, going for a tackle. He was too fast for Caleb and after a mini karate war, pinned him to the wall,

"Ha!"

"You _really _haven't changed baby cousin." He smirked, Cary forced a smile…somewhat disappointed. He'd hoped for more praise from him. Before Caleb left last time, he told him he'd get stronger.

Then again he was four…

"Nathan!" He greeted exaggerating the 'an' at the end. Cary watched as they shared a small hug. Well at least he knew _someone _grew up. He watched as they began sharing stories then looked into the living room to see his parents talking gleefully with Will and Sherri. Cary, not really sure what to do, folded his arms and stood behind Caleb listening to their conversation. He was about to join in with their film festival but then he heard his mother,

"Cary? Why don't you take these," she picked up two heavy suit cases, "Into the guest room? Some more of their luggage."

Cary grabbed them, but suddenly as if he had just been handed two cement blocks, they fell to the ground taking his arms with them, "Sure…" He dragged them into the room as he felt a definite knot form in his back.

After the greetings were done Cary bolted into his room with Caleb not to far behind, lifting the sheets to show what was under his bed, "So you, plus me, plus Nathan, plus _fireworks _equals…?"

"The best night of our lives."

Cary pointed to him, showing he got the answer right. "And all we have to do is wait until our parents get out of the house." Cary and Nathan's parents didn't mind all the fireworks (it was Caleb's) and they would hopefully sweep some ash off of the back porch before they got back. Caleb reached something out of his pocket, a coupon to a diner/bar downtown,

"Found it and it doesn't expire until tomorrow so…what why don't you get the logs ready?" he winked as he exited the room. Cary grew excited as he started dragging the tons of unopened cans and roll ups from underneath the bed,

"Cary?" His mom. Crap!

He quickly positioned himself in front of them, not knowing who's voice it was. But stood up upon seeing her, "Yeah?"

"We're gonna go out in a little while do you mind staying here with the boys?"

He scoffed delightfully, "Nope."

"Well, can we talk really quick, I just told Nathan."

His excitement went from the roof back into the pit of his stomach, he hated it when she said 'can we talk'. He was either in trouble, or someone died. Usually the first one. They sat on his bed,

"Um…Caleb's had some problems over…the past ten years…"

He tried to stay casual, many times he's tried to show his mom he can stay calm and mature. He's use any small opportunity he got, "Ok…"

"Over the past few years his…girlfriend…died."

Cary suddenly got serious, "What?" that was literally out of the blue, he'd never heard a phone call conversation or gotten a letter saying anything like so,

"Yeah." she said quietly, she clicked her tongue, "And…he didn't take it very well…he got addicted to drugs he…smoked, behind his parents back he was literally _destroying _himself."

Cary looked at the floor, slowly processing everything, "Oh my god…"

"He's been better. He stopped on the drugs he's taken some medication for his…mood swings and…it's like nothing ever happened."

"That's horrible…but he's ok?"

She nodded in reassurance, "Oh yes. Much much _much _better but…I wouldn't mention any of it…"

Cary widened his eyes "_Hell _no…" he cursed in front of his mom, she made a face, "Sorry."

Sherri rushed into the room, "Amy! We have to go now! They're having a dance hour from 5-8!"

Amy checked her wrist watch, "Sherri, it's 4:02."

"The earlier we get there the less seats will be taken!" She rushed back into the living room. She kissed Cary's cheek,

"Have fun with the others."

"Bye. Love you." he was still tranced by all he had just heard. His life was so much different than Cary's…then again, this was happening while Cary was still in elementary _and _middle school. He'd be in high school in 35 days…would his world change?

Would something like that happen to him? Would he make the same choices? No! No he would not! He knew better than that! In fucking _middle _school he'd seen people make the dumbest decisions on earth. He heard the front door slam and not even 3 seconds after Nathan was at his door,

"You ready?"

"Hell yes."

-X-

About three more fireworks shot in the sky, popping one by one, all golden. Cary loved the loud high pitched whistling sounds they made as they took off. The three boys obnoxiously cheered and howled like dogs as they ran for more in the (what was once large) pile. Cary, feeling like a daredevil set up four in a row and quickly lit them all at the same time.

"Holy shit!" Nathan yelled as Cary rushed back over to them, they all fired, the cracks loud enough to burst out their eardrums. They clapped and wooed the beautiful work of art. There parents had been out for about an hour and a half and the sun had finally finished setting. Caleb looked at his watch, able to see them from the light that was coming from the inside of the house,

"Ok guys it's pretty late, why don't we pack up and save it for tomorrow?"

Cary had already ran to the pile, "Dude, we haven't even gotten to the bug ones yet!"

"Exactly! We should save them for tomorrow."

Cary bunched them all into a pile into his arms and carried them inside. Nathan went to sort of kick the ashes out of the concrete and into the grass,

"Cary's got some energy huh?"

Nathan snorted, "Try living with him. Would you believe he's actually pretty smart?"

Caleb sat at the small table, "Yeah…he's still my baby cousin…and you're still-"

"Don't say it…" The dreaded nickname,

"INFERNO!"

As cool as it sounded, Nathan has had that nickname since the 1st grade. Every knew the Scott family for their love of fire, therefore came up with many nicknames for him, inferno, pyro, fire boy, flame, even ghost rider. Nathan hated nicknames to start with, thinking of them as a little more than an insult, rather it judged someone by one little trait instead of their whole personality. These nicknames soon passed onto Cary. Unlike Nathan, he loved them. He was especially fond of ghost rider. And now, Nathan did not want to be brought back some memories,

"Hey, not anymore, that's Cary's thing." he chuckled.

"Maybe." He stood up, walking over to him,

"Hey listen…I heard you and aunt Amy talking…"

Shit…

"O-Oh…" what the hell was he supposed to say? "I-I'm so sorry-"

"Dear god I don't want to hear those words again!"

"Ok I'm sor-Damn!" he caught himself (barley).

"I just wanted to let you know everything's ok…I heard what you said."

"What do you…oh."

"That…you didn't want me around Cary."

Nathan had gotten…_much _more information on Caleb's breakdown than Cary. He'd handle it better. He almost considered asking for them to leave Ohio earlier so he wouldn't have to worry as much.

"Well…I take that back," he sort of lied, "I trust you but…I wont exactly let Cary be…_alone _with you anywhere."

"Dude…I love the little brace mouth."

Cary 'coughed' loudly from right behind him, getting their attention, "For the record, I get them off in two months." he smiled wide and clear showing them off for a second before getting a pissed off look and walking back inside.

Nathan laughed as Caleb stood there embarrassed.


	2. Weird

Cary woke up early the next morning and quickly swept off the ashes left behind from the night before that they missed not seeing it in the dark. He was used to it, almost an annual thing for him. It wasn't even 7 A.M. yet. Something unusual about Cary, he _always _woke up early no matter how late he went to sleep. He didn't like it himself, and unfortunately no matter how long he laid awake in his bed waiting to fall back asleep it just wouldn't happen. He then started the habit of simply playing his electronic football in the morning until everyone else woke up. No way was he making four people breakfast (well in this case seven).

By the time he was done with the ashes it was time to get in the shower and _pretend _he had just woken up. By the time he was dried and dressed and brushing his teeth everyone was in the kitchen for coffee. Cary was the only one who didn't drink it (as the last thing he needed was caffeine). His mother gave him a side hug once he walked in,

"And there is my little ball of sunshine!" he must've gotten his early morning 'spirit' from her,

"Morning." He rubbed his eyes, he didn't fall asleep until one the night before, meaning he literally only had five hours of sleep. Mainly due to the loud chit-chatting of his relatives outside in the living room and his brother and cousin still awake in Nathan's room right next to his, (Cary wasn't a night owl…)

"Where's Nathan and Caleb?"

His aunt pointed to the front door, "They're outside, Nathan had something to show Caleb or, something." she waved a hand, obviously not an early bird. He walked out to see Nathan doing something irrevocably stupid. He was in their aunt and uncle's car, trying to back it up as Caleb watched.

Nathan could drive…but he shouldn't. He may have passed his driving classes but there was _no _chance Cary would get in a car with him driving after their 'race' with one of Nathan's friends.

"Ok slow…slow…" Caleb was calling, Cary was on the front steps of his house watching Nathan back it up, nearly into a tree near their driveway, driving crooked for some reason,

"What are you doing?" Cary called walking up to Caleb,

"Just giving him a driving lesson."

Cary was confused, "But he has his license."

Caleb made a face as Nathan skidded the car into the tree, Cary watched, not truly caring as it wasn't _their _car, "Trust me, he needs all the lessons in the world." he smiled at Cary as he laughed, getting his joke. Suddenly they heard the loud engine as Nathan screamed through the window, "LOOK OUT AHEAD!" He speeded the car up towards them as Caleb grabbed Cary, who was laughing, onto the front steps. He stopped, an inch away from the house. He turned off the engine and stepped out the car,

"And that is how we Scotts park a car."

The door opened behind them, Sherri confused, "You going somewhere?"

Nathan casually walked up to her handing Caleb the keys, "No ma'am. You have a beautiful engine." He always considered himself _smooth_ with any lady.

She scoffed, "Thank my husband, he paid for the damn thing. I can't stand that car."

"Give the car a break it looks…new." Cary joked, Caleb smirked nudging his shoulder. The car was built in 1949, 30 years old. It looked like it belonged in the fucking 30s. Sherri was like Cary in a way too. Although neither one of them knew it. Cary had her dry sarcasm, and were both teases. She let his comment slide,

"Oh well find something better to do, two weeks isn't that long." She walked inside the house leaving the three outside once again,

"What do you guys do for fun anyway?" he held Cary close in a side hug, which weirded him out a bit. He slowly slid out of his arm only to be grabbed back, the hold tighter than before.

"Well aside from fireworks, Cary and I usually do some skate boarding."

Cary freed himself from Caleb agreeing with Nathan, "Yeah. There's an awesome skate park not too far by. My friends and I go all the time."

"Yeah…" Nathan folded his arms, "Why don't you invite some of your friend-"

"After spending pretty much a whole school year making a movie with them? I could use a break." _Hell _could he use a break. The two smirked,

"Alright. Sounds like a plan."

"Fuck, I need to show you the skate shop downtown first it is sick." The two rushed inside, leaving Cary again.

Feeling let down a bit once again. He felt weird being the 'young' one out. Nathan wasn't an adult either though. But why was he treating _him _like an adult? It didn't feel fair… He walked inside only to go and peek into Nathan's room again, to hear the two chatting now about skate boards…how the hell do people talk about _skate boards_? Instead of joining in, Cary went into his room and plopped onto his bed, waiting for when Nathan and Caleb were ready to go.

…an hour and forty five minutes went by and they just then decided to head out the door.

Caleb was driving thank god otherwise Cary would've threatened to bike next to the car. Cary simply listened to the conversation as he was too tired to think of anything to say. They seemed to be acting like he wasn't in the car. At times talking about their families like no one else was supposed to hear them.

They even talked about sex stories and they're high school scandals, loud and enough for all of Lillian to hear.

Cary felt somewhat special…as if they _wanted _him to hear their opinions and stories. He may not have been talking but he sure was interested in what they were saying. When they finally reached the bigger part of the town Nathan started giving him direction to the shop as Cary joined in,

"You know this summer my friends and I killed at a film festival!" he bragged.

"Oh yeah, aunt Amy told me…you were a…Frankenstein?"

Cary lost his smile, "A zombie."

"Right." he half-listened, coming to a stop sign. Cary bit his lip, continuing,

"It was about this disease going around that was supposed to be for military use that turns people into zombies and this dete-"

"Brace mouth, later."

Cary was a little shocked on his sudden interruption seen in his eyes. Nathan seemed to be as well…he was just better at holding it in, he slowly sat back,

"Oh…k." he'd get over it, but it hurt him that Caleb wasn't interested into what his 'baby cousin' did over the first half of summer.

_Hey Caleb! I helped defeat a fucking alien creature over the summer! And what did you do? Oh right! Get addicted to drugs!_

Cary felt heat in his stomach as he stayed silent the rest of the way.

The shop was pretty big. Bigger than the mall in Lillian itself which was pretty sad. The three exited the car and entered the building, Cary having gotten back into his spirit, the they entered the building, their regular cashier greeted them, familiar with Nathan.

"No way, the Scotts!" he exclaimed, Nathan walked over,

"Haven't seen you in a while." he pointed to Caleb, "This is Caleb, our cousin."

He shook his hand, "Well I'm Johnny…any thing you want I can get it." he leaned in to whisper, "Some pot perhaps?"

The two laughed as Cary looked around to see if any new boards were in, Johnny grabbed a new one out from under his desk to show Nathan, "Dude you have to check this out, I got it in two days ago; brand new!"

"Hey Caleb go hang out with Cary while I look at this beauty…" he waved…not even kidding about what he said. Caleb proceeded to follow Cary around the store, just looking at everything he saw,

"So how tall do you plan to get?" Caleb mocked, Cary smirked,

"Six foot five." Caleb laughed, Cary was joking himself, "Realistically, five eight maybe…remember that growth spurt I'm supposed to have?" he said air quoting on 'supposed'.

"Well your gonna be tall don't worry." He grabbed Cary into a forced side hug as they walked, his arm wrapped around Cary's neck.

"Why are you doing that?" He tried to pull his head free, but Caleb started giving him a noogy,

"Because you're my baby cousin." Cary was starting to get tired of it, "Aw, my little baby cou-" he yanked himself from his arm,

"Dude stop…I didn't like it when you did it this morning either." Caleb's smile faded,

"Calm down I'm just playing, you know I think you're pretty mature for your age right?"

He walked off, Cary followed, "..No."

"I've seen boys your age do some pretty stupid stuff in high school." Caleb reached to look at a rookie's board,

"Like what?"

He looked down at Cary, "Like you'll see." he put the skate board back. Cary wanted to go look around on his own, not feeling like being around anyone for just a minute.

"Hey, I'm gonna go look around I'll meet you back at the entrance?"

Caleb got stern, "Absolutely not." Cary then got confused,

"Why not I'm not gonna _buy _anything my boards in the car-"

"Your not going anywhere alone."

Cary laughed, "Dude, I know everyone in town, no one's gonna snatch-"

"Cary…no."

He was now more weirded out than this morning, he stood next to him in silence for the next minute or two until he felt something…

"Well, I have to use the bath room," he began to turn to the back of the store where the restrooms were and walk away, "I guess I'll just-"

"I told you NO!" Caleb suddenly yelled.

Cary was caught off guard and that's when out of no where, maliciously, _painfully_, Caleb grabbed Cary's hair, yanking him back to over to him,

"OW! THAT HURTS!"

He still had Cary's hair, tightly gripping it, "I said your not walking around alo-"

"Caleb! I have to pee is all!" he breathed, brought to nervousness at how low Caleb's voice grew…his expression suddenly changed, loosening the grip and letting him go,

"Ok go."

Cary took three steps back, holding his head where Caleb had pulled him, he hesitated for a second…not sure what had just happened, he heard Nathan's voice,

"Hey guys, are we going or what?"

"Uh yeah!" Cary called.

"I thought you had to pee-"

"Uh-not anymore." he explained, lying. Nathan observed Cary's position, upper body leaned back a bit, legs straight up as if he wanted to run…

"Everything ok?"

Cary swallowed, "Yeah." he was still so confused. And the part where his hair had been pulled still hurt.


	3. Two Little Things

**BeautifulyBlue: I feel bad asking but can I get a some help to at least ten reviews? Or maybe even give me a shout out? : D Haha well sorry for the short chapter and if it seemed rushed but I am keeping the good stuff for later…And the "Johnny" from chapter two is not the pot-head "Donny" we all know and love. Just a random character I had to give a name. : )**

Cary didn't talk as much as he would've when they hit the skate park. In fact, he left the two alone as he went to some ramp with a few kids he knew from school. He kept spacing, all about what Caleb did…and why the hell he did it.

All over walking around a store? It still wasn't making sense as to why he had to get his hair yanked.

Maybe it was just the only thing he had to grab although his shirt was well in reach…but he didn't have to pull so hard.

_Fuck _did it hurt. It felt like it had been sucked into a vacuum cleaner.

Then there was the anger in his tone that bothered him to…so intimidating like he was going to kill him in a matter of seconds (he certainly proved his strength from pulling his hair). Maybe it was something he said? Or maybe he was just _way _too protective of his 'baby cousin'….he certainly didn't treat him like one back at the shop.

All the sudden this kid accidentally bopped him in the face with his hand as he was sliding upward, snapping him back into reality.

"Ooh! Shit, sorry!"

He pressed against the bridge of his nose, "It's fine." Hurt like hell, but he'd live. He then realized he'd been with that group for at least 10 minutes and not once had he showed off his skills,

"Hey, why aren't you going?"

He didn't have a reason…but he did have his skate board and was on a ramp that was decent height enough to get some wind. He got ready,

"Now I am."

He figured he may as well. He NEVER got to go to the skate park. Even when Joe or the others invited him his mother or father would immediately pile him with chores as if on purpose. And then whenever Nathan or his dad took him it would start pouring rain even if it was perfect blue skies when they left their house. It felt like it was a now or never decision whether he take advantage of this time or not. He was pretty good on a board. He got his first one when he was about seven. Never placing his love for fire of course but it seemed like something he could do on the street and feel…normal.

Some people were fine with Cary's love of fire, some didn't give a shit, and some found it pretty cool. Then some found it freakish, asking him when he's going to burn his house down or set his family on fire. People he grew up with on his block would always question him when they saw him making M-80's or messing with Cherry Bombs…in fact, there was even a time when a little girl, maybe five or six, saw Cary walk outside of his house with absolutely nothing flammable on him and immediately ran inside her house looking terrified. As if he was some rabid dog without a leash who let out of the house.

It sometimes made him feel…terrible.

It even freaked Cary out sometimes how much he loved fire. He didn't even have a reason to love fire, he just did. His own brother wasn't even as… affectionate about fire as Cary was. At times he felt like there was no one to go to but fire for help. Even his friends weren't any use at times.

Then there was the skate boards that he'd do every so often to make him feel normal. It was fun to feel free and fast but he'd start missing fire immediately. For now his skate board was all he had, and he seemed to be enjoying it and not even realizing it.

The three stayed until dusk, and Cary was barley started with feeling better.

"Hey bro! Come on!"

Cary picked up his skate board, starting down the stairs of the ramp, "See you guys later." he called. He didn't know them too well, but if he was going to go to high school with them he didn't really have a choice but to be nice to them. The car ride home was just as awkward as before, Cary sitting in the back in silence as the two jammed out to the blasting radio which were killing his ear drums. It took longer than expected due to the late night traffic which made it even more odd for Cary. Just last night the three were barking, laughing and launching fire crackers into the air, and it only took one little thing to screw it up.

They arrived home at seven at night, the family had already made dinner, Cary was the last to enter the house, not very enthusiastic about being home.

Amy was making the table, "You alright Cary? I made your favorite."

He raised his head up, to ensure her he was happy, "Yeah yeah, I'm just a little tired."

She put down her plate smiling, "Stayed up too late is why." She sat down next to Will, "And then you get up way too early."

She knew him like the back of her hand. It wasn't right. To Cary anyway. His dad went to pass out the silverware,

"C'mon Cary it's not like we're trying to feed you poison."

Cary realized everyone was sitting except for him. He sat down in his usual seat next to Nathan, the only difference was on the other side of him was Sherri. He kept staring at Caleb suspiciously as he ate while he and his dad casually talked. He kept trying to shrug it off but couldn't as the hot molten lava that was in his stomach earlier was now in his chest.

After drifting off into his head for a second out of no where he heard, "So did you have a good time Cary?"

He had no idea what they were talking about, having zoned out completely for quite a while, "Oh-yeah. I had fun." He sipped his water, excusing him from talking anymore.

"You three went to the skate park?"

Cary was then sipping even more water than he could manage, looking at Nathan to speak,

"Yeah…" he looked at Cary, "Say, who were those kids you were with?"

Cary finally swallowed the water, nearly choking on it having taken too much, and spoke, "Some kids who go to my school."

His mother was curious, "Why weren't you with them?" she asked referring to Caleb and Nathan.

He shrugged, "I hadn't seen them all summer and felt like catching up." he lied. He barley knew their first names.

"Alright." she seemed satisfied enough. Cary looked at his plate to see he was finished, (thankfully). "May I be excused?" it was a rule to always ask in his house.

"Sure. Throw it in the sink." his father said, having not even started on his food. Cary dropped the dish into the sink, staring at Caleb as he went by to go to his room.

"Oh wait Cary!" his mother called, he stopped. "Your father and I are taking Will and Sherri shopping tomorrow do you think you could take Caleb and show him the sights?"

What sights?

"Uh…ok." he had no idea what the hell he was going to show him. Lillian was boring to Cary. Like West Virginia was boring to Caleb probably.

"Thank you."

He walked into his room, staring at the ceiling. The ticking of his clock got on his nerves so badly as he wished he could knock it off of the wall. He stared at his poster of an explosion. The Upshot-Knothole operation from the 1950s. Cary had to go through an unbelievable amount of trouble to get that poster, circling the Lillian mall twice to see if he missed it, all of the Wal-Marts he saw in sight, even going to Donny to find one. He got it alright. And boy did he appreciate it.

One day he'd make an explosion as big and beautiful as that one…with a reason behind it of course. For now he'd spend the next few months, possibly years of thinking of one. Suddenly Nathan walked in opening his door,

"Can I come in?"

Cary sat up, "You already are."

"Oops." He replied sarcastically. It ran in the Scott family, "You ok? Your acting funny."

He let his feet dangle off his bed, "Yeah I'm fine." he wasn't conscious of it, but he was bouncing in place a little. He never stopped moving when he was bothered by something.

"Dude, your minds in like 40 places right now." and Nathan could always tell when he was.

"I've just been thinking…"

Nathan grew concerned, he didn't know that Cary already knew about the drug issue, but he didn't want someone he trusted, let alone shared the same blood with hurting his only brother, he shut the door behind him, "About what?"

"About…" he took a second. From Cary's point of view, Nathan seemed pretty close to Caleb already as the age difference was pretty uncanny. He hit a light bulb,

"High school…"

Nathan leaned against the door crossing his arms, "Ok?" Nathan would be entering his third year during Cary's first, not once has he had something interesting to tell Cary with the exception of his problem with his girlfriend…

"Caleb told me he's seen people my age make stupid decisions…do you know what kind?" he lied…he really didn't care but he didn't want to talk about Caleb.

"Well…most boys at your age and- you should understand this, want…" he paused, he smiled hopelessly at the seemingly hilarity of it, "Sex."

Cary's eyes widened in disgust, "Uh…gross."

Nathan laughed, "Well maybe not _you _in particular, but…" he played with the little trinkets that Cary had rolled up to make M-80s on the desk, "But some guys will do anything to lose their virginity…" he figured he'd admit it, "I know."

Cary was still disturbed, "Well…that really answers it." he made a 'bleck' noise sticking his tongue out. Even thinking of the word shook him. He remembered his first sex-ed class in middle school a little too well…

"Anyways dad, Caleb and I are watching the races on TV. if you want to-"

"Oh no…I'm good."

Nathan raised a brow, "You sure?"

Cary yawned, surprised he didn't have to fake it, "Yeah…just tired is all."

"Ok…night."

"Night."

Nathan closed the door behind him, leaving Cary alone with the ticking of his clock once again. He slid off his bed and cracked the door open. He could see into the living room from his bedroom, he saw Caleb and his (Cary's) dad on the couch with soda's, handing Nathan one as he sat down in between the two.

Cary wanted to be out there with them so badly but it still boggled him…he looked at Caleb, he seemed so happy and energetic from over there but, he saw a different side of him…and for some reason unlike normally he couldn't shake it off. He closed the door, sliding down with his back on it, he grabbed his bag on the floor and checked out his M-80s. Remembering how he sat at the dining room table for an hour and a half making sure it was rolled perfectly. He kept his match in the drawer of his desk along with some other junk and old tapes he never really cared for. He began to play with the small explosive in his hand, twirling it around with his fingers and throwing it back and forth between one hand and the other, finding an excuse not to go bed just then. Not with what was on his mind. He finally got bored of it and reached up to put it on his desk. He slammed his head back onto the door upon listening to the three laugh.

Maybe it was just him…maybe he just took everything the wrong way and it'd never happen again. Of course he took the train wreck that way. A freak accident he thought that would mean nothing a week later…a week later the water tower was gone. He crawled into bed after changing into his night clothes. He knew he was tired but he wanted to ignore it. However the ticking of his clock eventually hypnotized him to sleep.

-X-

Cary woke up when a sudden force slammed into his head, it didn't hurt but it scared the hell out of him.

"WHA-WHAT?"

He jerked up from his sideways position to see that Nathan had hit him with a pillow. He was laughing, tossing him the pillow,

"Morning sleeping beauty."

It was morning? Cary had only went to bed…he checked his clock, six hours ago. It was eight in the morning, the longest Cary had ever slept in, (sadly). He must've been sleeping _hard _to not even notice.

"My god I came in to see if you wanted some soda last night and I could NOT get you to wake up."

He snickered, "I told you I was tired."

"Well listen up 'tired'" he tussled Cary's already messy hair, "You're gonna have to show Caleb around town on your own today I've…got some plans already made." when he realized his parents and the others would be gone all day he decided he'd get some friends over.

"Your kidding right?"

"Well, you can handle it can't you ghost rider?"

Cary crawled out from under his bed sheets, "I guess but I-"

"Cary…" Cary bit his lip in fear, had he been caught? "Did Caleb say or do anything that made you…act this way?"

Shit!

"No no but…" he cracked, he wasn't sure what to say, "Just what am I supposed to show him that'll keep him interested?"

Nathan shrugged, "How about the bar?"

Cary dropped his fear, "The bar?" he knew Nathan was joking.

"He's 22, he can sneak you a drink."

"Yeah ha-ha." he replied sarcastically. "If I can't handle a grain of sugar how's alcohol gonna work out?"

Nathan mocked him by making a frightened facial expression, Cary hit him with the pillow with a smile, he exited the room for Cary to freshen up…however he got an un easy feeling before going to eat breakfast.

At about 10 A.M. was when Caleb and Cary got kicked out of the house before the parents left to shop as Nathan made an excuse as to why he was staying 'home alone'.

"This is the main street of Lillian." They were in a little town with shops and small restaurants at every corner, always busy and full of people, "This is the only spot people can go to for fun. My friends and I used to go to this arcade but it shut dow-"

"Hey, kid." he stopped Cary, he pointed ahead of them to a tall, gorgeous brunette, "You know her?"

Cary wasn't interested in what he had in mind at all, "No. She's like 17 probably."

He decided to get Cary comfortable by joking with him, "Damn it, I'd have to wait another year."

Cary turned bright red with his laughter, "Dude!" he always seemed to crack at those kinds of jokes, no matter how stupid they were.

"Cary?" he heard, Joe Lamb.

"Joe! Hey!"

He walked up, Lucy on a leash at his side, "Haven't seen you in weeks, who's this?"

"Oh, Caleb this is my friend Joe, Joe this is my cousin Caleb."

Joe held out a hand, "Nice to meet you." They shook, Cary feeling a bit better about that day,

"So, how does Cary normally act around you is he…usually this spastic?"

Joe nodded, "Usually." he commented laughing. Cary smiled, "Wait why are you out here?"

"Walking Lucy, and I started to think about when the results of our short film are gonna come in and…I somehow ended up on this sidewalk all the way out here." he admitted. Cary got an idea,

"Hey, you don't have to be home soon do you?", he was feeling needy, "Because I'm showing Caleb around and maybe you could help me find something that was actually exciting?"

"Why not?"

Thank god he thought. They spent most of the morning to afternoon walking around the town and checking out the shops, Cary somehow made it to one in the afternoon without even questioning Caleb.

"What time is it?" Cary asked.

Joe shrugged, "How should I know?"

"Why don't we get some lunch?"

Joe suddenly remembered, "Oh yeah! Cary! Remember that new eat and play place that came out?" It was a restaurant and an arcade,

"Yeah did it finally open?"

"Yeah like two days ago."

Caleb smirked, "Well show me the way."

"Wait do they allow dogs?" Joe wondered looking at Lucy, panting and going to lay on the concrete sidewalk.

It took them fifteen minutes to find it. But it was worth it, good food and a pretty decent price. The arcade was surprisingly not as crowded as they thought.

"Joe won't your dad be wondering where you are?"

He didn't think so, "I'd rather not worry about my dad right now, he's been at the station all day…and I don't need to explain to him how I had to convince an eat and play manager to let my dog in here." the two laughed as Caleb was still looking around the place. Cary looked at the arcade card they had been given,

"Hey Joe, you done?"

"Almost." he was still digging in, Lucy kept jumping, trying to nip his hand, "No Lucy."

Cary slid out of the booth and stood up, "I'm gonna go see how this works." he began to walk off to the other side where the arcade was but Caleb suddenly took off after him,

"Woah woah!" Cary was almost there when he grabbed his shoulders, "Wait." Cary was starting to get annoyed,

"What I can't walk around an arcade by myself either?"

"It's not that. What if someone _steals _that?" Cary was confused,

"…I can always come back another time-"

"But then what if someone steals _you_?"

Cary felt like he was five years old, "Caleb, I know how to stand up for myself. No one's gonna 'grab me'." he exaggerated with his hands on 'grab me'. He hated being treated like a child. Especially by someone that wasn't even a parent yet. Caleb leaned closer,

"Listen here Cary Scott," Cary started to get nervous as he looked to his right with his eyes, Joe was far at his table still eating, oblivious to what was going on, "I know what a cruel world this place is and someone, ANYONE could be eyeing you right now wanting to take you and kill you right now!" he stepped closer and Cary flinched backing up,

"Jeez…calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down." he sounded to violent. Cary turned around to quickly walk any where that wasn't near him,

"Where the hell do you think your…" he made a violent reach for Cary's arm, "GOING?"

He yanked it, pulling him back over violently, crushing his wrist (or at least it seemed).

"OW! FUH-!" Cary refrained from saying the full word in front of him, he heard his own arm crack as he grabbed his arm in pain, Caleb still had his wrist. Joe had finally finished eating, unable to hear over all the chatter.

He yanked him closer, hurting him again, "Listen you little fucking piece of garbage! If I have to," he yanked yet again, "tell you to behave one more time," again, "You are going to," and again,

"YOUR HURTING ME!" he finally yelled, grabbing at Caleb's clenched fist, Joe was getting Lucy to follow him instead of her trying to get the crumbs left over. Sudden guilt grew in Caleb's eyes as he let go, Cary stumbled backwards, holding his arm and wincing in pain, he looked at it…it seemed to be left with purple and green marks. Caleb didn't speak,

"Are you guys ready?" Joe had finally arrived, he observed the two, Cary disturbed and Caleb in some kind of shock,

"Is everything ok?"

Cary let go of his arm, still in pain, "Yeah…lets go have fun."

It was now two little things that Caleb had done to screw up the day.


	4. Not Over

Cary couldn't stop rubbing his hand over the bruises on his arm when he got home. It hurt just to rub his palm over the green spots. Caleb could fucking PULL. No one would want to mess with him in tug-o-war. But the way he pulled Cary made him think _again_.

Why?

Was there something he was missing to that little story? Wasn't he _over _drugs? If the story involved steroids the situation would be making more sense for Cary but there wasn't. He began to wonder if he even realized if he knew what he was doing. Had he known it was Cary he was tugging on? Or just some dog on it's leash?

He heard a knock on his bedroom door, he quickly put his arm down so it wasn't in plain view.

"Come in."

It was Nathan, "Hey."

"Hi." he replied unenthusiastically, not looking forward to having to have a 'conversation'.

"Everything ok? You haven't come out your room in an hour."

How the hell did he always know? Cary sat up a little more,

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Don't tell me your tired again." he folded his arms leaning against Cary's desk. His friends had already left by the time they came back, he and Caleb had been hanging around the entire time.

"I'm not, just not feeling well." he lied. Nathan walked over feeling his forehead,

"You don't feel warm." he swiped his hand away,

"I didn't say sick."

"Jeez, what the hell's gotten into you? You haven't been acting like yourself since they arrived."

Cary didn't know how to respond, unconscious of the anger in his expression he looked at the wall past Nathan's head. Nathan raised a brow,

"Did something happen? That I should know about? Cary?" he asked,

"You treat me like a little kid too." He exclaimed before sliding off of his bed and walking past Nathan, opening his door heading for the garage,

"And where are _you _going?" he called, annoyed.

"Somewhere where someone will leave me alone!" he hopped onto his bike going out of the driveway down the street. Oh wait, he mocked in his own sarcastic thoughts, what if I get 'stolen'? he scoffed to himself with the memory all over again. Caleb watched Cary pedal away through the window until he was no where in sight.

"Where the hell is he going?"

"I don't know," he grabbed his car keys, "I have to go get him-"

Caleb grabbed his shoulder, "He'll come back…just let him be."

Nathan was a little suspicious, he gazed at Caleb, "Hey…how'd your guys day go?"

He nodded, "It went fine." he pointed into the kitchen curiously, "Do we have any more Sprites?" he walked away to the fridge, leaving Nathan unknown whether to be suspicious or to not care at all.

Cary didn't go far from his house at all. In fact, he only made a small turn at the end of the street and was currently sitting by a light pole watching the cars go by slowly one by one. He just needed some _true _alone time. The sound of the afternoon was around him, hungry baby birds waiting for their mother, cicadas and the late evening traffic were all somewhat peaceful to him.

He wasn't thinking about anything. Just listening. Although every time he tried to lean on his left arm it'd feel like it was going to collapse. At the same time, he worried his parents and the others would drive by and see him. He wanted to go somewhere else, but was either too busy trying to relax or too lazy.

"_Its over…Its supposed to be over…"_

Those were his thoughts the moment that space ship had taken off, "Its over…it's over…" No more action or pain he thought. No more near-death experiences or army tanks. The effect of the events on Cary didn't actually 'hit' him until afterwards. And he was slowly getting over it. Even his family didn't know how involved he was with everything. Just his mother crying hysterically, bawling out tears when he came home the night it ended,

He was covered in bruises and dirt and his clothes had gotten damp and mucky from tripping multiple times when he was in that cave. Even Nathan was almost convinced he was dead, shocked when he saw tears in his brothers eyes. He then remembered the hour long shower he took when it was over.

For some reason, the thought made Cary smile. It didn't seem like it, but it was strangely a memory that he could laugh at. He started to laugh to himself until he saw his wrist, also bruised. He flexed it, causing it to crack. _Painfully_. He winced and took it. Getting scratched and violently thrown against a cement wall from a missile flying through was pain. This was nothing. He looked down the street to see a familiar car coming up. It wasn't his family but he knew that yellow car…

Alice and Louis Danard. They went by too fast to see him, but he definitely saw them. Happy, laughing and chatting.

Even Alice was enjoying her time with her family.

"_How is that possible?"_

It wasn't fair…just not fair. He finally decided to suck it up and go home. He decided he'd 'take blame' for whatever he did. When he arrived back, he saw his father's car in the driveway, leaning his bike against the wall in the garage he walked up the few stairs and saw the boys in the living room and the two women in the kitchen. His father perked up upon seeing him,

"There's my boy! Where were you?"

He paused, think of something! Something! "Joe Lamb's."

His father nodded, "Well listen. Next time, ask before you just take off somewhere."

Cary froze up a little inside, "Yes sir." He did not like it when his father got angry. _His _father especially.

"Atta' boy." he went back to staring at the television. Cary looked up, he saw Caleb looking at him before turning his head at the television, Nathan just staring at the television. Cary turned around,

"Hey where are you going?" his father again, he turned **back** around.

"Just my room."

"M-mm." he nodded, "Your not locking yourself in your room all night again. Come sit down with us." he said pointing to the chair next to the couch he was on.

Was he serious? Cary didn't respond, trying to keep a masked expression as he sat down, some sit-com was on that Cary knew absolutely about. He didn't speak as he listened to the various conversations between the other people in the house, from the people on the TV. He tried tuning everyone out which wasn't working because he constantly heard someone calling name…he later realized one of the main characters on the show they were watching's name was 'Cary'. It started to grow dark outside as he felt himself feeling more and more exhausted as he began to think less about his arm.

"Cary." he ignored it, mistaking it for the TV again. "Cary!" he then recognized his mother's voice,

"Yeah?"

He then realized everyone had gone into the kitchen. "Dinners ready, didn't you hear?" he got up, not even aware of how long he had zoned out, nor able to remember what he was thinking about for so long. They sat in pretty much the same order as the night before, Cary couldn't believe it had only been two days…no, not even a day really. Cary slowly ate, trying to make sure no one could see his arm. Why was he more concerned about hiding it than Caleb? Caleb should be the one concerned. In fact, why wasn't Cary showing it off?

"_No! No more action…besides, who's gonna believe me?" _He kept reminding himself every time he felt like 'stretching'.

"So Caleb what did Cary show you?" his aunt Sherri asked.

He swallowed, "Pretty much everything there was to see. We went to this eat and play restaurant with his little friend."

Damn it! Cary grimaced trying to scarf another bite of food into his mouth,

"You mean Joe? Didn't you just say you were at his place?"

He swallowed, not wanting them to stare at him any longer, "Well yeah…I went to his place after we left the restaurant-"

"So you let Caleb go home by himself?"

Cary was aggravated beyond his own belief, "I don't know! He's twenty-two! What does it matter?" he certainly wasn't being treated like a child at the moment, but he didn't want to be treated like a parent just yet.

"He can still lose his way!" His mother scolded, Cary was going to do it, he was going to hold his arm out, _"Well he could've thought about __**this**__ while he tried to find his way home!" _Yes, it was perfect, the cat had the rat.

"Will you two leave him alone!" He heard…Caleb's voice. Cary looked at him in surprise, lowering his bruised arm, "Joe invited him over and…I let Cary go. He asked me specifically." he covered up, surprising Cary even farther, leading him into even deeper confusion. He could see the steam in his mother's eyes simmer,

"Oh…well, alright. Cary you could've just told me."

Cary tried to fake a smile, "Heh…"

His uncle Will lifted his fork, "Well can't we just put this all behind us and finish the lovely meal now?" that definitely sounded like he was related to Cary's mother.

-X-

Cary was playing his electronic football (having just found it underneath his bed) trying to get his mind off yet another problem. Was Caleb bipolar or something? Did he have a split personality? He was going in way over his head when he thought on even more about it. He sighed trying to lose himself in the game. He heard his door open, expecting Nathan or his mother. Nope. Caleb.

"Can I come in little cousin?"

Cary had just gotten into the game and was trying to stop, "Yeah yeah, hold on." he finished the level then turned it off. Caleb shut the door behind him,

"You alright?" he walked over, lifting his arm, looking at the green blotches he had left,

"Shit…did I do that?"

Cary grew tough, "Who else?"

He bit his tongue in guilt, "My god I'm so sorry."

"And what was that with the hair pulling yesterday?" he asked, tugging on his own hair for reference.

"Look, I lost my temper is all."

"But what did I do that was so bad?"

"Nothing!" Cary just couldn't take any more confusion, he waited for Caleb to continue, knowing he was the victim here. This wasn't a situation where he may have blown up the neighbor's mailbox (or even car) where he had to think of something sympathetic to say. No _he _would be getting an apology for once.

"I promise it'll never happen again."

"Yeah but that doesn't explain why you get so mad!" He remarked, feeling a bit confidant.

"I don't know why either Cary and…I plan on getting help but until then…lets enjoy ourselves for the next two weeks." he patted his back, it hurt.

"…Ok." Cary was still uncomfortable. He walked out of the room,

"You going to bed?"

Cary looked at his clock, "I guess…it's almost eleven."

"Ok, night."

…Cary still didn't feel any better. When he laid down he couldn't lay on his left arm for it still hurt. He didn't think he'd fall asleep at all with the random spasms of the muscles out of no where but he did. But then he dreamed about running through the caves all over again. He had ran in a complete circle right after Joe told him to get out. He then proceeded to run in yet another circle. He went down whatever path _didn't_ look familiar but somehow ended up in the same spot once again over and over. The dream was exhausting as he moaned and stirred in his sleep.

He was the last to wake up the morning afterward, usual routine of showering and so forth until arriving in the kitchen to find only Nathan, Caleb and his mother.

"Hey sweetheart." His mother tried to pull him close but he just leaned in, "All I get is a lean?" Cary rubbed his eyes,

"Sorry, morning."

"What's wrong with you, you not awake yet?" Nathan nudged the back of Cary's shoulder.

"Tired." he mumbled.

Nathan rolled his eyes, "Again?"

His mother grew concerned, "Do you even sleep at all anymore?" she tried to sound casual to not seem like she was interrogating him.

"I do just…" he figured he tell the truth for once this week, "I don't know, nightmares I guess."

His mother leaned him in and kissed his head, not helping him at all.

"You'll be fine buddy." Caleb commented. Cary saw his reflection through the window, the dark lines under his eyes not flattering at all. He then saw where his dad, Will and Sherri had went. He was showing them the lake way out in the area where little koi fish would swim around. When Cary was little he, Nathan and his dad would all go there together and feed them. Especially after it rained would they be up near the surface.

"So Cary…today you have a choice."

Cary wiped the sleep dust from the corner of his eyes, "What?"

"You can either come with me and the rest to go to the beach, or stay here with Caleb…he sunburns too badly."

"Then why are you going-"

"Sherri wants to go." she replied sounding irritated about it. She then pulled him into the other room, "Please keep Caleb company. It would mean a lot to him and- you two don't seem to have bonded since he got here."

Cary thought for a second…he did apologize last night. From the way he sounded he _was _sorry…and maybe it was a chance to get close to his only cousin, "Ok I'll stay with him."

Amy pulled him in for yet another hug, "Oh thank you." His mother hugged way too much. They left pretty early, since the beaches got crowded during the summer it'd be a pleasure to be one of the first there. Cary and Caleb didn't even utter a single word to each other since they left. Cary was on his electronic football on the living room couch as Caleb was…well, somewhere else. It wasn't like Cary was baby sitting and he'd _have _to be on his tail the entire time. In fact…shouldn't it be Caleb who was watching Cary?

About five minutes later, the phone rang. Cary was too focused on his game as Caleb ran in answering it,

"Hello?…No this is his cousin…yeah hang on." he put the phone down and slowly slid the device out of Cary's hand while he was playing,

"Yeah?"

"You got a call from…Charles?"

"Oh." he hopped off the couch and over to the phone, "Hey."

"Hey, is that new eat-and-play place any good?"

Cary sat on the chair next to the table the phone was on, "Yeah why?"

"Joe told me about it and…I'm inviting the rest of you guys to come when my family goes today."

Cary paused…"Today?"

"Yeah. Why is that bad?"

Cary leaned over to peak at Caleb in the kitchen, who was looking in the fridge waiting for good food to magically appear, "What time?"

"Around two I think. You're the only person who hasn't said yes yet so…"

Great way to make him feel like a loser he thought. He sat up, "Uh…how about I just show up? You know…see how things go?"

"Ok. Bye."

"Bye." He hung up. Then he checked the clock above the television, eleven thirty. He had time. But he couldn't just wait until 1:59 and say 'hey I'm going out bye.' He called into the kitchen, "Hey Caleb!" No response. He was only 2 feet away,

"Caleb-" he didn't feel like shouting and walked over to him, "Hey, uh…later on my friends asked me if I could…do something with them." he figured it'd be less irritating if he didn't know he was just going back to the same spot, "At about two. So…can I go?"

He looked at him, "I don't know can you?"

Oh how Cary loathed that saying, "May I?"

"I don't know." he walked in the living room.

"You don't know?"

"Well I just don't think it's up to me." he was sitting on the chair Cary had just been on,

"Well who knows how long our parents are going to be gone? And I'm not gonna ride my bike all the way to the beach just to ask."

"Well aren't you pretty sick of those boys by now?"

Cary folded his arms mumbling to himself, "We've been through a lot together…"

"Well do whatever you want." He began to walk into his guest room. For Cary that sounded like a 'yes'…but something was still bothering him, he walked after him,

"Do you even care what I do _at all_?" Cary didn't know why…but he was getting pretty mad, "If I had just said I was going to go sell drugs would you give a fuck?"

He cursed…right at his cousin…is 5'11" and temper like dynamite cousin. He turned around, "Cary, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing…it's just…one minute you care too much, then the other minute you don't care at all! Pick a side!"

He began to crowd over Cary, backing him up against a wall, "You know something you little brace-mouthed freak? I'm starting to think that you just might be losing it!"

Cary smacked his chest, shoving him away "Get off!"

Suddenly Caleb looked terrifying and before Cary could react,

_POP!_

"OW…oh…" Cary smacked his hand over his mouth, forcing pressure to stop the pain.

Caleb had punched Cary straight in the mouth. Hard as hell, it felt like he had been beaten in the mouth with a baseball bat. It fucking _hurt_. Cary felt the distinctive taste of blood in his mouth. He slowly held out his hand to see his fingers and palm drowned in blood.

"Go away…" Cary mumbled in both fright and anger.

"I'm sor-"

"GO!" Cary screamed, wincing at the taste. Caleb walked away shutting himself in his room. Cary walked into the bathroom to see the horrific sight of his reflection of his lip and teeth water falling blood. Because of how hard he punched him, he had cut his lip against his own braces. He swished it out with water at least six times before brushing violently.

He couldn't take it anymore…it still wasn't over. He sat down in the bathroom with the door locked, holding his hand against his mouth.


	5. Shame, Anger and Hatred

The group was at the eat-and-play place. Preston was busy wasting his time at a slot machine for tickets which was rigged, Joe was playing whatever first person shooter game he could find with Charles and Martin was wasting _his _time at a machine trying to hit a mark at the right time to win as many tickets as possible.

Joe checked his wrist watch, "Oh my god, it's almost four o clock." Charles put the play gun down,

"Already?" he looked around to see his younger siblings had already gotten their prizes, Jen was waiting for them, annoyed, "I guess we're gonna leave soon anyway. Thanks for coming."

Joe began to walk out, "See ya-" Charles suddenly remembered, grabbing his shoulder,

"Oh hey wait! Did Cary ever walk in? I didn't see him."

"No. I don't think so."

He shrugged, "Family stuff I guess."

Joe nodded in agreement, "Yeah, his cousins here…" he suddenly got the thought, he raised an eyebrow, "Hey…did he sound ok when you called him?"

Charles was confused, "He sounded fine. Why?"

Joe was still bugged by his last visit, "I met his cousin and the three of us came here yesterday and…something about the two…they seemed really intense with each other all the sudden like…something happened."

Charles raised a confused brow, "Huh…"

"Yeah." he had an idea, "Maybe I should stop by and check in on him."

"Joe, you know Cary hates it when people go 'watch dog' on him." and Charles knew it. Cary always wanted to believe he could handle things on his own and that no one had to be hunched over his shoulder all the time.

"Well he doesn't have to know that." Joe smirked before heading out, "Bye Charles."

He biked over to Cary's, he hopped off when he got to his front driveway but wondered if anyone was home when he noticed the car wasn't there. He shrugged it off and threw his bike down, running over to the side where Cary's bedroom window was. He did his usual routine of slamming his face onto the window but noticed he wasn't even in there.

"Cary?" he called out. He then decided to do the 'polite' thing and knock on the door. "Is anyone home?" he called.

Cary was back in the bathroom, rubbing his fingers on his teeth to make sure he didn't feel any more blood, "Joe?" he called to ensure he could hear him.

"Hey, can you let me in?"

Cary quickly brushed a little blood stain on his tooth, "Yeah, just hold on!" he swished and spit with water one last time. He smiled and made other various movements with his mouth into the mirror to make sure everything was gone. He wasn't sure if the cut had healed but as long as it wasn't visible. He ran over to the front door,

"Hey." Joe greeted warmly.

"Hey uh…" Why did he have to come _now_? "Tell Charles I'm sorry I couldn't come-"

"Oh no, he's cool…Can I come in?"

"Yeah come." he replied waving a hand…although he really didn't want anyone over. Especially with Caleb in the other room. What the hell had he been doing for so long Cary wondered. Definitely not feeling guilty he bet.

They stood at the entrance awkwardly,

"So…" Joe exclaimed playing with his pants pockets.

"So…" Cary copied. He may as well ask, "Why did you come? It's kind of late."

"Oh uh, I just thought I'd stop by to see…" he glanced deeply at Cary's lip, "Why you didn't…Cary…"

"What?"

"Cary! Your bleeding!"

Cary suddenly felt it drooling out, he slapped his hand over his mouth, "SHIT!" he yelled. The cut did not heal. He ran back into the bathroom slamming the door behind him. Joe wasn't fast enough and he was standing outside the door, he could hear the sink running.

"Rinse with salt water! That heals the wound!" Joe yelled, having had his own experience with braces. Cary cracked open the door, poking his head though,

"Bring me the salt shaker will you?" he mocked, somewhat embarrassed that he didn't think of that.

Cary was done, the wound couldn't have stung more once he swished the salt water in his mouth, but because of that he had finally found exactly where the cut was and was holding a piece of tissue paper against it, still bleeding out a bit. The two sat in the kitchen at the table,

"I cut myself so many times when I had braces don't worry." Joe tried to reassure.

"I know…two more months." he said changing sides of the paper.

Joe sat upright, "But…it shouldn't bleed that much."

Cary kept a straight face although he felt his heart jump a bit, he shrugged, Joe knew something was up…he always knew when Cary was hiding something,

"Did something happen?"

Cary couldn't keep his eyes from widening in fear.

"You seemed really intense with Caleb yesterday-"

"I fell." he stood up. "I was on my bike earlier and I lost control. Fell, landed on concrete, you happy now?" The best lie he could come up with.

Joe seemed to believe it, and at the same time, he knew Cary was lying, "Where are your other bruises from falling then?"

Damn it…Cary rolled his sleeve up on his left arm, the green blotches were still there (barley) "See?" he held his arm out to Joe,

He still didn't believe it, he laughed a little, "Cary, I know you're hiding something."

Cary could feel his cheeks get hot, most likely out of anger that Joe wouldn't drop it…but it wasn't really Joe interrogating him getting on his nerves, it was the one who caused him to interrogate him that was.

"If you don't want me to tell anyone I wont."

Cary trusted Joe, and knew he did in return. Which bothered him that he wasn't even telling the truth in any way, shape or form right then. Suddenly he heard a lock from the hallway click.

Oh shit, Caleb!

"So, can you tell me? As a friend-"

"Go home." Cary couldn't let him get hurt. He wasn't going to.

"What?"

"GET OUT!" he started to push him to the backdoor, Joe relentlessly tried to fight him.

"Cary what the hell is wrong with you-"

"Leave! Go!"

"Your acting like a fool!" he couldn't fight him off as Cary wanted Joe _out_. He was able to push him out of the back,

"Go home!" he slammed the door shut and locked it. He then slammed his body back to the door, relieved. Joe was infuriated.

"_What the hell?"_

He tried to drop his anger as he proceeded to walk around the house and grab his bike. Cary watched him pedal down the street, happy…and upset. He wanted to tell Joe so badly. But he wouldn't swallow his pride just yet. The first week was almost over. If he can make this, he could make the other week smoothly. He sighed to himself, he knew Joe would get over it. Joe could forgive _anything_.

"Who was that?" he jumped, turning around. It was Caleb.

"No one. A door to door salesmen." he lied.

"What were they selling?"

"_My fucking GOD!" _the irritation just wouldn't end for him, "A-sp-vacuum cleaner." He had almost said spoons, his mind running back and forth from one thought to the other. A habit he has had since…birth. As he got older however, his mind only did it when he had high anxiety…which especially let Cary's thoughts spiral out of control.

"Ok…" he had his arms folded.

Cary awkwardly glanced to the side of Caleb, staring at the wall…not in the mood for talking. To _him _especially. Suddenly Caleb lifted Cary's chin up observing his lip,

"Is it ok?"

Cary smacked his hand away, "It's fine. No thanks to you." he wasn't afraid he told himself. If he wasn't scared of an alien, this was like a spider to him. Helpless, and could be easily crushed.

"Hey, who do you think your talking to?"

"My cousin!" Cary brought himself up to him, "My cousin who has absolutely no power over me!" He tried to size up to him, his face a perfect war mask, showing him the fury in his eyes that he would not back down.

"Our parents are back."

Cary turned around to see the car pull up. He turned back to Caleb to give him his look some more, he rolled up his sleeve, "When they see _this_ and after I show them my blood stained tissue, we'll see who wins." Cary still had the tissue shoved in his pocket. Suddenly Caleb squeezed Cary's face in his hand,

"I don't think so…little cousin. Because for all they know, you could've just 'fallen off your bike'." He let go.

He had been listening to him and Joe's conversation…Cary had to think…who were they going to believe, their 14 year old son…or their 22 year old, mature, older and 'wiser' nephew…Cary hated the fact that he even _doubted _his own family. The door opened behind them, hitting Cary on the back,

"Woah! Sorry, didn't see you there." his aunt Sherri replied, face bright red from the Lillian sun. The rest crowded through, Nathan carrying everything and not happy about it.

"My god…" he dumped everything onto the couch, "I hate crowded beaches…and jellyfish. Jellyfish especially." he complained. Their mother was untying her hair,

"Will you calm down? We'll go back another time."

"Oh yeah, terrific." Nope, Nathan was not in a good mood.

"And how are you?" she asked cheerfully.

Cary was still angry, hatefully glaring at Caleb waiting for him to charm his mother even more.

"We're good." Caleb noted, he suddenly elbowed Cary, "Cary here kept things exciting for me."

"_Just shut up!"_ he wanted to say so badly, "Stop it." It just slipped out.

His mother got surprised, "What's with you?"

Cary didn't respond. A little too angry to think before he spoke. His mother folded her arms,

"I asked you a question, young man." Whenever she used 'young man' she meant business. Cary looked up at her, "What's with this attitude you've been having?" She hardly had to use a stern tone, that was his dad's job, and Cary just couldn't take her seriously when she used it. In this case he was just too angry.

"Answer me." she sounded so nasty, Cary had to say something. _Anything _just to satisfy her.

"…I don't know." he answered. Plain and simple. He forcefully swallowed the shame, anger and loathing he had within him, feeling heat up in his head.

She held her head up high, their was casual chatter in the kitchen, Caleb just stared between the two, she tried to get back to being 'sweet' again, "If we need to have a talk, you can ju-"

Cary walked towards his room, cutting her off completely, he had an idea within his spiraling mind.

"Hey! Look at me!" her voice silenced everyone in the kitchen. Cary turned around, "Do I need to punish you just to talk to you?"

"_Oh god yes…please!" _Anything to get to stay in his room he thought. He didn't care if it was in front of his relatives. Being _in _trouble would lead him _out _of trouble. He stayed quiet, looking at Caleb in the eyes. He didn't like the fact he had to make his mother angry however,

"Cary…go to room and wait for your father." Cary nodded, turning around, closing his eyes and smirking to himself. So relieved.

-X-

Cary sat in his room, looking through the different cherry bombs he kept in his drawer, shuffling them in his hands to keep himself entertained. He heard the knob turn, he jumped up to his feet.

"Cary?"

…It was his Nathan, he had hoped it was his father…ready to give him a punishment that would keep him busy and away from Caleb. He walked in,

"Wha…I thought dad was coming in."

"I just had to spend the last ten minutes talking them into getting you out of trouble."

…Cary's mind went blank, _"Thanks a lot…"_

"What's with you? You've been acting nothing like yourself." he swiped a hand, emphasizing 'nothing'.

"I told you nothing's wrong." he said bouncing onto his bed, still holding a cherry bomb in his hand.

"Something." he responded, not giving up without a fight.

"I just…" he shut his eyes, unable to think of anything else to say, "I don't know. Didn't you ever go through a phase like this?"

He laughed, "Not that I remember…do _you_?"

Cary rolled his eyes in irritation.

"Look, they said they just want to know what's wrong. So if you don't want to tell them, can you tell me?"

Cary licked his lips, nodding, "No."

"..no?" he was confused.

"That's what I said." he started rolling the cherry bomb around in his hand, trying to distract himself from all the anger that was left.

"Hey listen." he started to get serious, his tone was enough to get Cary's attention, "I don't know what's wrong with you. But when you figure out come tell me."

He started to walk out, Cary had to let the anger out…unfortunately the only thought he had was all wrong, he breathed heavily,

"I told you…NOTHING IS WRONG!" he shouted, Nathan turned around. Some of the heat in his head was gone…but he couldn't let it all out without more yelling,

"SO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Nathan looked at him, anger and fury in _his _eyes, "You know something Cary?" he asked violently, "You are psycho!" he grabbed the handle of the door, "YOU HEAR ME? _PSYCHO_!" he slammed his bedroom door. Cary couldn't handle it, he locked his door then opened up his drawer (almost having it fall out of its set) and snatched out the lighter shoving it into his pocket. He climbed out of his bedroom window running as far away from his home as possible.

All his anger and rage seemed lodged in his chest, head and stomach. Like he couldn't get it out. He went to a small, open area that no one seemed to visit. He took the cherry bomb, lighting it with the match. He looked at it as it slowly sparked, getting faster and faster,

Cary threw it, letting out a loud outcry, verbally telling the world how angry he was. It landed pretty far…it decimated taking the hatred and anger with it. Leaving nothing but ash behind.

Cary breathed out…shit…fuck! He felt tears in his eyes. He kept inhaling through his nose to keep them down, he only struggled even farther as he shoved them away with his fingers. He stood there and breathed until the sun had fallen completely.


	6. Agony, meet Cary

Cary was asleep at his desk, he had been rolling M-80s the night before but was too exhausted to finish them. He was covered in ash and dirt, his flesh and clothes smelled like smoke. He had never had to let out so much anger in his life. His family didn't notice he left the night before. He left his door locked until about five minutes before he fell asleep, making sure no one would get suspicious. His father opened the door, Cary still had his head down in his arms, undisturbed.

"Cary." his dad said loud and clear, he still didn't move, he moaned a little, his voice having worked its way into the little dream he was having. He rapidly shook his shoulder, "Cary. Wake up."

"No…!" he exclaimed aggravated, his head shot up, "What?"

"Come on…it's ten o' clock."

Cary's eyes widened, "Ten?"

"Yeah, you've been sleeping this whole time?"

Cary looked at the floor, somewhat ashamed, "I think so."

His father laughed, "Your finally turning into a teenager, now come on and get some breakfast."

Cary stood up, "Ok." he rubbed his eyes walking over to his closet grabbing some clothes, "Just let me take a shower-"

"Wait…" he sniffed, "Do you smell smoke?"

Cary's eyes wandered around the room in fear, "No…why?"

"Hm…must be a forest fire somewhere." his father walked out, leaving Cary sighing in relief.

He was immediately greeted by his mother once he walked into the kitchen. She pulled him into a hug, kissing the side of his head. She hugged him tighter,

"I love you sunshine." she mumbled into his ear,

"Love you to." she pulled back smiling at him. She went back to making the coffee.

Maybe things would go better today he told himself. Just no talking to Caleb. Cary had nothing that wasn't hostile to say to him. Nathan was at the table, eating the sausage and eggs his mother had made,

"Your up pretty late."

Cary just looked at him and sat down, not hungry or in the mood for talking. Especially to the guy who called his own brother 'psycho' the night before."

"Hey…they said they'll be leaving three days early."

Cary suddenly perked up, "Really?"

"Yeah, Uncle Will's got some…business meeting he has to get home for so…" he sipped his coffee, "They'll only be here for about five more days."

Five days…ok…he smiled to himself, _"You got this Cary…five more days…you got this."_

Five more days and then he'd be free. His mother saw Cary's expression.

….It saddened her. That he couldn't get along with the only extended family they had left. Cary had no other cousins, both grandparents were gone, and Will was the only brother Amy had. All she wanted was for them to get along and be close…but she didn't know what was driving Cary so insane.

"Um…" Cary played with his fingers, so tired that he was half in his head, half in reality, "Where are they now?"

"They went out to get us some more groceries." Nathan held his head up with his hands, tired himself. He was up all night thinking about what he had said to Cary.

Never once in his life had he yelled at Cary. Nor insulted him like such. He couldn't fall asleep and went to check on Cary at about midnight. His door was still locked (as Cary wasn't even home by then) and it made him feel worse.

He was sitting there, yet to apologize.

"C-Cary?"

He stared at the table, a horrible headache that came out of no where, "Yeah?"

"…Your not a psycho. Ok?" he may have not actually said 'sorry' but that was considered an apology in the Scott family.

"Ok." Cary didn't take in what he said. Unbelievably exhausted.

Later on at noon the phone rang. The parents were outside trying to feed the koi fish, Cary was sitting on the living room couch resting his head on his hand trying to sleep, Nathan was helping out with the chores that his mother hadn't completed and Caleb…was answering the phone,

"Hello?" There was a pause, Cary mentally 'woke up' and sat upright,

"Who is it?"

"Oh, I don't know…wait, oh! Ok." He held out the phone, "Hey, a girls looking for you." he mocked. Cary was confused, he pulled himself up and grabbed the phone, still angry with him.

"Hello?"

"Cary?" Alice Danard?

"…Alice?" he didn't know whether to be thrilled or confused. He thought of Alice as a close friend…and a close friend only. But never so close as to call each other out of the blue.

"Hey."

"Hey…uh-"

"I just wanted you to know…I think I saw you the other day when my dad and I were driving by your street."

Uh… "Ok?"

"No no I mean…you looked really…unhinged."

…

"Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything's fine."

"You sure. Cause really, I think-"

"Yeah, I'm positive." he lied. So much lying this summer he thought.

"Cary…if your lying-"

He suddenly woke up inside for real, he knew what was going on, "Alice? Is Joe there?"

There was a pause, giving Cary his answer, he needed no more words,

"No why-"

"Alice, I know Joe put you up to this."

"No he didn't Cary. I'm asking you honestly, why were you alo-"

Cary hung up the phone. Alice was with Joe indeed. She was at his house giving back some spices she borrowed for her dinner the night before. That's when they had started talking,

"Hey, you haven't heard anything from Cary over the summer have you?"

"No. Not since the…thing anyway."

"Well…"

"Oh wait. I did pass by him in my car the other day…he was just sitting there by himself…he looked upset."

Joe was then feeling like the detective of the story, a story he wished he wasn't a part of, "You know, his cousins in town and he's been acting _really _weird."

Alice raised a brow with a smirk, Joe smiled, "Weirder than usual."

Alice frowned, "Maybe we should check on him?"

"I tried…he shoved me out of the house like there was bomb in it or something."

Alice was suspicious herself, she looked at Joe's house telephone, "Why don't _I _give him a call?"

That didn't work… She placed the phone on the receiver.

Joe was sitting on his bed next to it, "Nothing?"

"No. But he sounded so angry. Like 'just leave me alone' kind of tone."

Joe nodded in confusion, trying to think,

"Joe," she got his attention, "Maybe we should let him be. Cary hates it when people baby him."

"Cary's got to learn not to be so stubborn all the time and let people help him." Joe exclaimed picking the phone up. He turned the dials to Cary's number,

"Joe, we should let him be-"

"Alice," he stopped turning, "I've known Cary since the 2nd grade. I _have _to be there for him when he needs me. Even if he doesn't want me to." he re-started the phone number. Alice sat on his bed, petting Lucy who was laying there, oblivious to the seriousness in the room.

"Ok it's ringing, pretend your not here."

A deep voice answered, "Hello?"

"Yes, can I speak to Cary please? It's Joe."

"Who?"

Joe got confused, Cary's whole family knew who he was, "Joe Lamb…who is this?"

"Oh, I'm his uncle."

"Oh-Oh!" he laughed, trying to ease the tension, "Well, I'm a close friend can I speak to him-"

"Well he's not here right now he literally just walked out of the house."

He grew tense again, "Where to?"

"He didn't say, just took off on his bike."

Wait a second… "Well ok. I'll see if I can catch up with him later on."

"Ok, I'll let him know you called."

"Thank you. Bye." they hung up at the same time.

"Alice, I think you should be getting home."

-X-

Cary was in fact on his way to Joe's house. Taking the long way. He didn't care if Alice had been there at this point. He just wanted to avoid Caleb. As long as possible. He didn't care how much trouble he'd be in for not asking first but as long as he wasn't getting hit. He had his bag of fireworks with him. Maybe he'd be able to spend a _long _time there he hoped. He pulled up to the driveway. The one thing Cary hated the most about Joe's house were the long sets of stairs that led up to his front door. It was like one of those beach houses where they were built high up so when high tide came the waves wouldn't reach it.

Cary never knocked with Joe. He just walked in, "Joe?" he slammed the door behind him, dropping his heavy bag onto the floor. He could hear Lucy barking as she ran up to him, jumping and licking all over Cary's face. He laughed and petted her all over. Kneeling down to her height.

Joe walked out of his room, "Hey." Cary felt a sudden streak of fear when he walked in,

"There you are." they stood there awkwardly as Lucy ran off into the living room. "Uh…about yesterday I…"

"Don't even, it's fine." as he thought, Joe would get over it in a matter of hours. Cary stared at the floor, still embarrassed from the day before.

"How's your lip?"

"Oh, it's fine. It stopped bleeding." Lucy eagerly ran back into the room with a toy in her mouth. She sat in front of Cary dropping it on the floor, wagging her tail. For unknown reasons Lucy loved Cary out of all of Joe's friends. Maybe it was because he was the most energetic and playful with her when she was just a puppy.

Joe snorted, "Lucy wants to play." Cary picked up the toy, letting Lucy try to snatch it from him. She wouldn't let go for anything. They played a small tug-o-war as they stood in the same spot,

"So Cary…is everything ok? Why did you come-"

"About this morning…I know you put Alice up to it."

"What?" he had some acting skills of his own. But he wasn't a good lair needless to say…Ok, he was horrible at lying.

Cary laughed, "You can't fool me Joe, I'm not _that _stupid."

"I know your not stupid Cary. But I knew you wouldn't tell me so I thought maybe if someone else spoke to you-"

"But your basically telling everybody that I've got problems when I don't!"

"That's because I'm trying to be a friend and help you Cary!"

"I don't need your help Joe!" he dropped the toy, leaving Lucy to maul it, "I don't **want **your help!"

Joe got an expression of both shock and anger,

"You hear me? I am JUST FINE!"

He sounded crazy Joe thought. Something really could lead someone to insanity he thought. He grabbed his shoulders,

"You need to calm down!"

He pushed him away, violently shoving his hands off, "Don't tell me to calm down!"

There was a knock on the door. Cary turned around, trying to see who it was through the window of the door. Joe angrily glanced at him as he walked over to open it.

Caleb.

"My god, there you are!"

Cary was both horrified and angry at the same time. He didn't know which to be more of.

"Caleb, wha-." Joe spoke,

"Cary ran out of the house without anyone permission, your parents are pissed."

"Oh calm down it's not like I ran off to some gang!" ha angrily talked back, Joe backed away from the two, "And how did you even know where I was anyway?"

"My dad got a call…"

Joe's eyes widened in fright, that sounded like the wrong thing, Cary looked at him bitterly shocked,

"No no, Cary I didn't sa-"

Cary cut him off, upset, pissed, annoyed, embarrassed, everything negative, walking out the door and slamming it. Joe walked up to Caleb,

"Why would you say that?"

"What? I told him the truth."

"But he thinks I ratted him out!"

"Oops." he faked guilt. Now Joe wanted to punch _him _in the mouth.

"What are you doing to Cary?" he pushed his chest angrily, barley knocking him back.

"Nothing he's never been through before." he backed up and walked out of the house. Joe stared at the door angrily until he was out of sight and left into his room…maybe a model to make would keep his mind off of everything.

Cary was at the bottom step, steam in his chest…tears trying to fill his eyes but he refused them, shutting his eyes tightly.

"Hey," he kicked Cary's elbow, "Lets go, you've got some yelling to do." Caleb got in the drivers seat as Cary hopped into the back, "Your not gonna get in the passengers side?"

Cary hated him…he hated him so much, "I'd rather sit in the trunk if I could." Caleb scoffed as he started the engine, Cary was about to buckle his seat belt when he remembered something,

"Wait." he unfastened himself, Caleb looked back at him, annoyed,

"What?"

Cary stepped out of the car, "I forgot my fireworks." he started to head up the tall stair case outside, Caleb followed grabbing his finally healed arm,

"Hey!" he yanked him back, not as hard as before but enough to erupt a volcano in Cary's chest, "You can get them later lets go." Cary yanked his arm free,

"It'll only take five fucking seconds!" Cary walked up only two more steps as Caleb was hovering over his shoulder pushing him over the edge more and more,

"Oh so you think you have the authority to curse now?" Cary ignored him as he went up about three more steps, almost towards the last few leading to the door stoop. "What makes you think that you can talk to me like you're an adult?"

"Oh my GOD!" he yelled, horrible aching hatred and anger that just couldn't be let out. Just two more steps, until his right arm was now yanked,

"Listen up you fucked up lunatic! Lets just get home alright!"

Cary tugged his arm back, only to have his wrist grabbed, "Let me get my stupid fireworks!"

"What do you want with those fireworks anyway?" he screeched. Cary looked him dead in the eyes, hatred filling his lungs,

"So I can celebrate the day you go home!" he yelled.

Then suddenly, Cary seemed to blank out…all the sudden he felt Caleb tug him forward and he went tumbling. He went rolling down the wooden stairs, landing once on his elbow, hip, knee cap, his back, his thigh, then nearly his head. It would've most likely killed him but he finally and thankfully reacted fast enough on the last few steps, using his hand to slow himself down as he rolled over his head.

But all Cary remembered was being tugged forward and then rolling over his head on the last two steps. He laid on the bottom stoop in pain, breathing hard, and struggling to fight off the tears. Unfortunately, his face turned bright red, his eyes blood shot and watery as his face scrunched up in agony and horror. Caleb walked passed him, listening to him whimper and breathe. He even _sounded _in pain.

"Go to hell Cary." he walked towards the car, not even helping him up.

Cary felt tears streaming down his face but he tried to suck it up…but it was no longer anger or hatred…it was pain and sorrow, "I hate you." he forced out. His chest aching and pumping with each breath he tried to take. Caleb smugly looked at him…he then got into the car and pulled off.

Leaving Cary still on the ground in pain, he tried to grab the rails to pull himself up, but he couldn't reach. He was left there to cry…although he was trying so hard not to.


	7. Stepping out of the Dark

Cary was limping home. It took him 10 minutes, and ten minutes exactly, to pick himself up but the moment he was on his feet, his body felt like it would crumble any minute. He had to hold himself up by the railing of the stairs before he started his walk down the street, leaving his bike and bag at Joe's.

He had cried…and if felt good. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket, sniffling. He could barley keep a low profile with how banged up and wrangled he looked. He breathed heavily which made his body ache less. He held both hands on his side, grasping it. That was where he had hit the most during that fall. He stopped at a cross walk, waiting for the light to turn red. He leaned against a pole, when he slumped his body he immediately shot back into an upright position, only making his back hurt more than it had to.

He was relieved once he made it to his street. So close he thought…so close to home…and to Caleb.

He hesitated.

He stood next to the light pole wondering what he was supposed to do now…maybe a shower would be nice. Suddenly he groaned in pain once he let go of his side. He winced in pain letting himself fall onto his bottom. He leaned back against the pole. He wanted to see himself. He felt himself welt up once more but forced it inside. He lifted up his jacket and shirt so he could see, horribly abrased and nearly bleeding. Thankfully he hadn't stressed the wound enough to do so. He looked away lowering his jacket, pulling over where his shirt ended. He felt pain at his shoulder, he lifted up his sleeve. He later observed that both his arm and leg looked like parts of a roadmap of Chicago. City marks of purple and green and red streaks of interstates and turnpikes.

He pulled down the leg of his jeans as he sighed in pain again. He twitched as he wanted to cry some more. He wouldn't let himself. He painfully capped himself up as he held his side again. Leaning over himself in pain.

When he got home the first thing he did was struggle to get himself into bed. Closing his eyes lying straight on his back. To his surprise no one was home…nor was either car in the driveway. It was only 3 in the afternoon. Where the hell would they go?

He could hear his clock ticking again, but he was in too much pain to care. Too distraught. He didn't know what his next move would be…

Maybe it was about time he began to wonder. To swallow his pride and just tell someone. No way could he hide this. For now, maybe if he rested he'd be able to think. He turned over onto his side, the one that didn't hurt and forced himself into an uncomfortable sleep.

He was then awoken an hour later by the sudden sounds of the front door opening.

"My god I can't believe this!" yelled his mother throwing her car keys down on the chair, "Where the hell could he have gone?"

Cary had slept for an hour, not feeling any better as he tried to push himself upward.

"Amy, clam down."

"No! I will not calm down!" his mother sounded distressed _beyond _all means, "Cary is missing!"

Missing? He walked over to the door cracking it open. He saw his mother and father in the living room,

"Just calm down," he saw his father with his hands on her shoulders, "Look here, Cary!" he called. He realized what was going on,

"Cary! You home?" Cary wasn't comprehending whether he really _did _want to be 'home' or not.

"You see? He's not here!"

But giving his mother a heart attack wasn't helping. "Amy. He's somewhere."

He let out another sigh of pain and tried to maintain an upright position as he walked out, "Mom? Dad?"

Amy was thrilled when she saw him running up to him, "Oh my god! Cary!" she squeezed him. He held his breath. Wincing in agony. "Where the hell were you?"

"At Joe's." he replied, trying not to seem like he didn't want her to hold him. She pushed him away (thank god), looking disdainful, Cary grew nervous as his heart rate increased, especially with the stern look on his dad's face, "I was! You have to trust me-"

"Cary! Caleb said he stopped by and told me Joe said he didn't see you."

Cary's heart dropped in disbelief and disgust… "Caleb's lying." he explained, trying to stay calm,

"Cary-"

"Listen to me! You can't trust him alright! There's something wrong with him-"

"Cary…" his father chimed in, "Go to your room."

Cary swallowed the anger that was rising yet **again**. He was left speechless, in deep shock, he muttered in a weak voice, "Dad-"

"Just go. Please."

"Your not even gonna hear me out?" he yelled, "That's your nephew! Your lunatic drug obsessed nephew!" he ignored the slowly draining looks on their faces, "Alright! _I'M _YOUR _SON_!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" his father yelled, scaring both him and his mother. He pointed behind Cary, "Go to your room and stay there then until he leaves." he was exaggerating. He always did when he was angry, but this was not a good time to be angry at Cary, "Now." Cary stared at the two in despair, his eyes grew glassy as his stomach was turning. He turned around and walked into his room, doing as he was told. Amy looked at her husband,

"Maybe we should listen to him-"

"Amy, no." he walked away into the kitchen, cutting her off.

Cary locked his door, sliding down and leaning against it. He wrapped his arms around his legs as he bit his lip, trying to make sure he didn't cry. It was out of the pain on his side. He checked it again. Not bleeding, but something may be wrong. It hurt to walk, it hurt to stand…hell, it hurt to sit upright. He didn't want to be at home where his own parents didn't trust him. He heard the front door open, he heard his aunt Sherri,

"Hello?"

"Hey!" that was his mother.

"Did you find him?"

"Yes…he's home."

"Thank god." he leaned his head back, putting his ear against the door. He heard his uncle,

"You found him?"

"Yes." he heard Nathan…who sounded hysterical,

"Is he home?"

"Yes, yes calm down."

"Oh jeez…" he sounded like he was calming down. At least Cary knew _someone _cared about him at least a little.

"Hey, is he home?"

…Caleb. Just hearing his voice made Cary bitter. His mother responded to him,

"Yes, he's home." he hated everyone in the house at the moment, unaware that Amy was unsure of Caleb as of then. He could hear upcoming foot steps towards his door, Cary reached up locking it. The knob was turning back and forth but wouldn't budge. Cary remained slumped against the frame.

"Cary?" It was Nathan…he didn't want to talk to anyone…especially someone who'd _know _just by seeing how banged up he was something was wrong…Cary wanted to hold out he decided…after today, four more…just four more he told himself. Stairs were stairs…he's been through worse.

"Cary, it's Nathan. Open up!"

Cary didn't respond. He just slammed his head back into the door, listening to the knob turn and be blocked repeatedly.

"My god, Cary!" he started knocking, which pounded a drum in Cary's head. Cary was grinding his teeth. He didn't want to be in the same house as…as _him_. He suddenly felt a knife in his side as he grabbed it.

Nathan knew how to handle this as he grabbed a coin out of his room. He fumbled with the small lock on the knob as he slowly rotated the coin left in right until he finally had it gripped tightly enough to turn it completely. He heard the lock and happily opened the door,

"Cary what the hell is-" the room was empty, Nathan stepped in, "Cary?"

The window was open, and Cary was gone.

-X-

Cary could barley run. He limped down the long streets back into town. Getting as far away from home as possible. He then had to stop, unsuccessfully able to make it to the cross walk. He had to breathe. His body would definitely collapse if he didn't. He pushed himself, running again, suddenly he stumbled, a half-assed paved sidewalk block he stubbed the toe of his shoe on, but he couldn't maintain his balance with his leg.

He was going to fall, no stop about it. The mobility of his right leg shut down completely, forcing Cary to give it a rest. He almost slammed face first into the concrete but he grabbed the lamp post, falling to his knees. The sun was starting to go down and no one on the street rushing home seemed to notice him, not questioning trying to help him. He panted heavily as anger slithered in his stomach.

And suddenly, the month before flashed through his head, the train wreck, the bus, the cave, then Caleb…

"FUUUUUUUUCK!" He shrieked, holding out until blood could fill his lungs. He ended it with heavy pants, not helping the pain in his side as he seemed to make it worse. The burning hot concrete seemed to make its way through his jeans and onto the cuts on one of his knees. The scrapes on his arm itched. He just couldn't win…it was so pitiful. He let go of the lamp post, letting himself lay on the concrete until his leg would want to cooperate again.

Joe was working on a model of the alien itself. He'd been working on it for two weeks, not being consistent about it. He was trying to perfect the cat-like eyes it had until he heard a knock on the door. He put the airbrush down, Lucy laying next to his chair as he stood up,

"Joe?"

He was shocked to see Cary when he opened the door. He wasn't shocked that it w_as _Cary, shocked at the sight of him. Beaten up, bruised, barley able to stand. "Cary?" He moved aside as Cary began to limp in, Joe put his arms around him, "Let me help-" Cary pushed him away,

"Just stop!" he turned around, capable of walking again, although it felt like suicide when he was climbing the stairs, "I just came back to get my fire works." he lied. He knew the bag was still right by the door, for he was looking right at it, but he'd make the two 'search' for it.

Joe couldn't keep his eyes off him, "Ah-ok, where is it?" his tone was full of concern,

"I don't know. Can I check your room?"

Joe wanted to tie him to a chair and force him to tell him everything, the exhaustion under Cary's eyes were unusual…he'd never seen Cary cry once in his life. "Go ahead." Cary turned around, he seemed casual enough. Joe took a step closer but suddenly, Cary collapsed, grabbing his side in pain and landing with a heavy THUD on the floor.

"Cary!"

He could hear Lucy whine in the other room, running out and sniffing Cary. Cary cringed and groaned in pain, Joe turned him over from his stomach on to his back, "Are you ok?"

Cary had a horrible crooked expression of anger as he, for the first time in his life, saw tears streaming out of Cary's eyes. He snapped inside, he knew something was wrong as he panicked, "Cary! Tell me what's wrong!"

Cary moaned, shutting his eyes. Joe observed him as he rested Cary's head into his hand. He noticed how tightly Cary was holding onto his side, "Cary let me see." he went to life his jacket,

"Stop!" he winced, smacking his hand away.

"Just let me see!" He couldn't stand the look on Cary's face, more tears were involuntarily falling out from Cary's now red eyes, "I want to help you Cary! I have to see what's wrong!"

"_Just do it." _Cary's conscious for probably the first time in…for the first time spoke to him, _"Let him look!"_ He let go, slowly moving his hand. Joe gave him a look showing him he could trust him and lifted his shirt,

"Ah…AH!" he began to moan in pain loudly. Joe saw the horrible abrasion. Joe could feel the pain by looking at it. Yet no open wound…Joe barley touched it, "STOP!" he yelled, the tears seemed to go faster when he touched it. Joe's heart pounded,

He knew it was bad…it was inside. "Cary…" but he had to be sure, "I'm sorry, but I'm doing this to check-" he slowly pushed on the wound.

"AHHH!" he screamed in pain. Joe's hand was still on it, looking at Cary full of pity, "STOP!" he yelled, lifting an arm to wipe some of the tears off. Joe slowly slid his hand away, he could see Cary shaking. "Stop!" he simmered down, breathing in pain, like a cry for help.

Joe shivered. He knew where they were going next…but he had to calm him down.

And to make sure he did…although Cary hated them…he pulled him closer, holding him,

"I'm gonna help you. Ok?"

Cary wasn't loving the hug, but he wasn't even thinking of anything else, "…he hit me." he moaned, weak, stupid and angry.

Joe thought he misheard him, "W-what?"

"Caleb hit me…He hit me and he pulled me down the stairs. Are you happy now?"


	8. Lights, Camera, Deceive!

"Is he ok?"

"Yes yes! Relax."

Joe and his dad had taken Cary to the hospital. He needed an x-ray and (sadly for him) had a few nurses have to push on the muscle and wound a few times for examination. Albeit his little cries of pain they were relentless.

"So what exactly is wrong?"

"He's got a twisted rib…usually caused by overstress of the muscles or physical trauma."

Joe's dad Jackson stepped up, "And he'll recover?" Jackson liked Cary…but he wasn't too fond of his love of fire. But in this case he knew he had to help someone he (more primarily his son) cared about.

"Yes…He'll be on antibiotics for 3 weeks and may need some physical therapy…and I highly recommend no physical activity for a while."

"We'll be sure to tell him."

The examiner walked away as Joe and Jackson stepped into the room. Cary was laying on his side that didn't hurt on the little bed.

Joe stood next to him so he could look at him, "Hey, doctor says your fine. You've just gotta rest for a little while." Cary just nodded, Joe smiled to comfort him but saw his sleeve was lifted a little (Having not been pulled down properly after the X-ray) and saw the cuts and bruises. He lost his smile. "Cary?" Cary looked up at him, eyes exhausted and glassy, "You ok?" he nodded 'yes' again. Jackson patted Joe's back,

"Well I gotta get back to the station. I hope you feel better Cary."

"Thank you." he mumbled prior to Jackson leaving the room. Joe sat next to him on the bed, he put a hand on his shoulder,

"You ok?"

"No." he was still breathing heavily. He pushed himself up, unable to hold back a groan as he did.

"Don't stress yourself, you could hurt your rib worse."

Cary ignored him sitting up on his bottom all the way. "So…antibiotics?"

Joe nodded, "Three weeks."

"And massage therapies?" he smirked.

Joe smiled nodding.

Cary smiled, "I guess getting hurt has its perks." the two laughed.

Joe stopped as Cary pulled his jacket sleeve down the rest of the way. He frowned, _"Caleb hit me…." _just couldn't stop playing through his head, _"he hit me and he pulled me down the stairs"_

"Uh, Cary?" Cary turned to him, a simple curious look, "Ah…do you remember…telling me anything? About Caleb?"

Cary shifted his position to directly next to Joe, "Depends…what did I say?"

Joe still wanted to shiver, especially after seeing how pain-stricken and pitiful someone could look when crying, "That…you said that he hit you and that he pushed you down the stairs or-"

"Oh." Cary felt a chill down his spine. He fumbled with his hands, "Yeah um…he actually _pulled _me down the stairs. Not push." he corrected, not knowing what to say.

"You mean that's what's this has been all about?" Joe grew serious closing in on Cary,

"Yes. Why?"

"Cary! That's abuse! And I've seen Caleb; he's huge compared to you!" He tried fit into Cary's shoes…to feel the fear and angst of encoring Caleb's wrath.

"So what? I mean…I just had a little melt down is all. I was hurt and let it out." he tried to explain, anxiously.

Joe started to get infuriated, "Look Cary-"

"Joe!" he held a hand up, keeping them distanced, "I've been able to hold out this long I can hold out for just four more days."

"He could do a lot worse to you in four more days I mean look at you! You could barley stand!"

"I'm still fine Joe!"

Cary was so stubborn Joe screamed inside his head. He's never let anyone help him with his problems even when he needed it. He needed it now more than ever, before something awful happened,

"At least tell your parents."

"I tried!" Cary was still enraged by his parents reaction, "They didn't believe me!"

Joe's stomach dropped a bit at that, he leaned in closer, "Show them the scars then they'll-"

"Caleb's got a backup for everything! He's like some psychotic genius!" he wasn't even joking around when he said that. Joe fumbled his words trying to make something up,

"Well what will he have to say when _I _tell them?"

"Joe! Don't."

Joe still couldn't believe it. "Cary-"

"Look! I have an idea to show them who Caleb Scott really is!"

Joe didn't like this. _At all_. "Cary…"

"See, here…" he scooted himself off the bed and stood on his feet. He was able to stand up properly, perhaps due to the pills they gave him when he arrived, easing the pain. "You don't have to be my body guard anymore. I'm fine."

Joe didn't respond. Cary sighed.

"Ok…" Joe tried to piece everything together, "So…Caleb punched you in the mouth and…that's why your lip was bleeding?"

Cary nodded, "…Yup." still not happy to say so.

"And then he pulled you down the stairs-MY stairs?" Joe asked, almost in hysterics.

Cary nodded, somewhat guilty.

"Alright…I'll let you tell your parents er-show them what he's like on your own." he realized it was _Cary's _business. Meaning it was _Cary's_ choice. Cary smiled, "But please promise me you won't do anything stupid!" Joe exclaimed, meaning what he said.

Cary gave his usual crooked smirk, "No promises." he walked out of the room, capable of at least getting home by himself. Leaving Joe terrified.

When Cary left at 3 P.M., it was now nearly 7. He was sure his family was in hysterics…much to his non-surprise, one of the cars was gone. He climbed through his window as he did when he ran off and landed on the floor. He could here his father and Nathan making frantic phone calls in the living room, succumbing his guilt even more,

"And your sure you haven't seen him?" Nathan was calling all of Cary's friends, he was currently on Preston,

"No, I haven't! Jeez, you sound awful."

"Yeah thanks." he replied harshly,

"Look, I'll keep an eye out for him."

Cary walked out of the room, Nathan saw him, hanging up on Preston. He ran up to him, scaring Cary and grabbed his shoulders, "Where the hell did you go?" and was very angry.

"Out." he mumbled, not daring to look him in the eyes.

"Mom and dad are going to kill you-"

"Cary?" he heard his mother. She walked out from the kitchen,

"Hey mom." she walked up, hugging him again.

"No more disappearing for one day. Alright?" she begged. She was beside herself with fear, Cary felt awful, she was crying. He wrapped his arms around her gently, "Please? No more."

"Yes Ma'am." he whispered, he looked at his dad, who was more angry than anything else, "I'm sorry…" he let her bury her face into his shoulder. His emotions crumbled as it was replaced with hopeless guilt. He couldn't look at his family right now…not even Nathan, who was overjoyed on the inside to see him.

He couldn't rat Caleb out now…especially when the were probably more angry with him than ever before…He knew it'd hit him at the perfect time.

Cary always trusted his instincts. And in this case, they were telling him to never run away again.

-X-

The rest of the family arrived home late that night, Cary, unbeknownst to his family, was doing as he was told by the doctor and not really doing anything. He was on his bed playing on his football, nothing better to do. Nathan walked in, a cross expression racking Cary's nerves,

"Why did you run off?" he shut the door behind him.

He put his game down, "I just needed a break…from everyone."

Nathan squinted as he observed Cary carefully, he sat on the bed with him, "Are you alright?"

Cary was just confused, "I'm fine. Why?"

"You look like you've been hit by a bus. You fall or something?"

"_Fall? I was 99.9 % sure I had broken every bone in my body."_

"I tripped when I was running down the street."

"Uh huh." he didn't buy it.

Cary shrugged it aside, "Is Caleb home?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I was just wondering-"

"You know," he cut him off, "You and Caleb really seem to hate each other."

Cary's eyes widened, "…What do you mean?"

"As in," he scooted closer, "To you, he's just…there."

Cary winced in confusion, "Huh?"

"There's no love or…compassion-"

"Oh god…" he shut his eyes, "You sound like mom."

"Well then listen to me!" Cary was growing enraged inside, he didn't want him to find out just yet, "I know something's wrong and I know your hiding it! So suck it up and just tell me!" Cary sat there, bold enough to keep calm even with Nathan's temper.

"Jesus Christ your impossible!" he slammed the door behind him.

Cary sighed in relief falling back onto his pillow. He stared at the ceiling. He still felt embarrassed and guilty from…_everything_ that happened that day. It didn't help with the fact that Joe knew what was up either. He tried to sleep, he closed his eyes, trying to tune the family voices out. It didn't help that in the middle of the night while he was sleeping the pain came back in his side…to make matters worse, when he woke up in the middle of the night to the pain, he was laying on that side, having shifted in his sleep. Just four more he thought as he started to fall back asleep. Four more days.

"Hey, wakey wakey." Caleb walked in, shaking Cary.

Cary curled up even more underneath his bed sheets, eyes closed. "What?"

"Mom says we're all going out later." He didn't care about the fact that they hated each other at the moment, Cary just sat up and rubbed his eyes,

"What time is it?"

"Ten. Hurry up and get dressed." He declared, coldly. When Caleb turned around Cary shot him a nasty look,

"Hey!" Caleb turned around, equal tempers flaring at each other, "I went to the hospital, I have a twisted rib!" he exclaimed, hoping to get some guilt out of him, "I'll be on antibiotics for a while."

"Congratulations." He remarked, no empathy visible as he slammed the door behind him.

The family went to the Lillian Mall. They were just leaving as soon as afternoon rush hour started to kick in.

"Ok, for our last three days we're just going to relax because honestly Sherri," Amy was about to lose it with her sister-in-law, "I've spent so much since," Cary was sitting at the curb waiting for his dad and Nathan to pull up in the car so they wouldn't all have to walk out in the crowded parking lot in the heat. His side still had a heavy weight of pain, he ignored it, trying not to slump where he was sitting. He stood up, his legs getting cramped.

He then saw his mother, Sherri and Will weren't paying attention to him and Caleb at all. Caleb was bored, fumbling with his fingers when Cary observed the situation he was…or _could _be in.

Cary had the perfect plan…like one of Charles's movies, all he had to do was improvise.

"Hey Caleb, you ready to apologize yet?" he had to think of something to get him started. Anything ridiculous.

"Why would I do that?" Cary scooted closer to the edge of the curb,

"_Lights…"_

"Because after all you've put me through I think I deserve one." Caleb turned towards him,

"Hey listen up here shit!" he wasn't loud enough for the three over on the corner to hear, Cary was keeping an eye on them, "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"_Camera…"_

He wanted to laugh so hard at that point, "Uh, you punched me." he backed up a little more, his heel was able to hang off the curb, "You threw me down the stairs," he counted on his fingers, "AND you almost broke my arm!"

"_I'll be fine…Just turn…"_

"You know what, screw this!" he just shot a hand at him, making him flinch back a little…but not for them, Cary threw himself around, falling towards the concrete street.

"_Action!"_

Cary landed face first onto the road, an unplanned cry of pain when he did.

"Cary!" Amy dropped all the bags and ran over to him. He was lifting himself up onto his knees, he sniffled. He'd given himself a bloody nose. His mother picked him up from underneath his arms,

"Are you ok?" He pushed her away,

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"But boy, your bleeding!" Sherri yelled.

Amy held his head, "Did you fall?"

"No…" he looked angrily at Caleb, so anxious yet so confident at the same time, the look on Caleb's face was perfect as well, "…Caleb pushed me."

Amy and the others eyes dropped, "Do you believe me now?" They walked over beginning to scold Caleb as Cary saw the car pull up. He wiped off some of the blood quickly until his father rolled down the window,

"Are you ok? What happened?"

"Could you get me a tissue first?"

This was going great he thought. They'd know who he really was.

At least he thought…


	9. Forget and Never Forgive

_The family walked into the house, Cary holding a tissue against his nose, _

"_Wait, what exactly happened?" _

"_He said something about Caleb pushing him-" _

"_I just thought he fell-" _

_Cary sat on the chair as the parents began arguing about which was which when Nathan walked over, _

"_You ok?" _

_Cary held out the tissue, now smeared with blood, "Yeah, I'm fine." he sounded nasally due to the pressure, he then saw Caleb walk in, not happy. _

"_What the hell_?" And Cary was scared.

"You want to explain what that was brace-mouth?"

Nathan stood up, "Listen up," a stern, deep tone, "Enough with this crap!" he shoved him back, receiving the parents' attention, "You stay away from my brother!"

Cary smiled, but he tried to hide it. Sherri grabbed Caleb's arm, "We need to go outside!" He tried to snatch it away,

"Listen mom-"

"OUTSIDE!"

Caleb was dragged outside by his parents before Amy and their father followed, "We'll be back in, Cary if you need more there's a tissue box in my bedroom." she seemed calm enough…until she slammed the front door behind them.

Cary and Nathan watched as they argued and fought outside. Cary smiled, laughing

"Boy is he pissed!" he switched sides of the tissue, Nathan turned around, confused.

"What?"

Cary smirked, "Its fine. Now they know who Caleb really is!"

Nathan nodded…until he really took a second and thought, "Wait. So did he really push you?"

Cary felt caught as he lost his smile, "Uh-no." now he was in a crater, "But, before he-"

Nathan couldn't believe it, "So you _lied_?"

"I didn't 'lie'!" not necessarily anyway, "Ah! At the board store, he yanked me by my hair and…" the look of disbelief on Nathan's face was only making him more and more nervous, "And…the day I had to show him around, he grabbed me and almost broke my arm!"

He folded his arms, "Cary…"

"I mean it!" Cary put the tissue down, he seemed to be done bleeding, "And yesterday…he, I…" He couldn't keep his words in order, his mind spinning and spinning, "I ran off to Joe's…he pulled me down some wooden stairs."

"Cary…"

"He did!" he stood up. "You want to know why I've been acting so weird? THAT'S why!"

"I should've known this was an act."

Cary's heart and eyes sank, "Nathan-"

"No! Alright, tripping yourself on purpose to frame him just to get the attention you haven't gotten since our cousin arrived!"

Cary's jaw dropped on the spot. Now **he **was in disbelief. **BEYOND **disbelief. "No! Nathan listen-" he walked up to him, but Nathan held a hand up,

"And then you make up this abuse story! You're _that _desperate?"

"I can't believe you think tha-"

"Just STOP!"

"YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!" Cary screamed, thankful no one outside could hear him. He felt himself welting up, he pulled up his shirt to show him the abrasion, "You see?" Nathan's eyes widened,

"Do you believe me now?"

Nathan nodded, "No…I…you probably couldn't have…"

He felt tears, damn it he felt the tears, he sucked them in, "WOODEN STAIRS NATHAN! ONLY WOODEN STAIRS!" He dropped his shirt and walked away into his room shutting the door.

Nathan didn't want to believe it. His own flesh and blood abused his brother. It couldn't be fake at this point. He twirled around looking out the window…

Caleb had everything under control. Apparently he had 'charmed' them with his 'genius' yet again. What the hell could it be? What caused violence? Apparently therapy wasn't helping. Nathan opened the door,

"So Cary and I just had a little argument, and I may have gotten pretty close and maybe he just 'thought' I pushed him-"

"Don't listen to him." Caleb's head shot towards him,

"What are you doing?"

"Mom, dad." he kept a stern face with a deep tone. He wasn't even sure of what he was doing himself, "I hate to tell you this…but Caleb hit Cary."

Caleb's eyes widened, Sherri and Will suddenly held each other, distraught and Amy's jaw dropped, "He's been abusing him. He grabbed him by his hair and yesterday, he pulled Cary down some wooden stairs!"

"The fucking lunatic slipped!" Caleb shouted, Amy pushed her husband away from her, stepping forward,

"NO ONE CALLS MY SON A LUNATIC!"

"Caleb come inside!" Sherri began walking into the house with Caleb, glaring at Nathan hatefully following. Will looked at Nathan dead in the eye,

"How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know." he shrugged, "But that's why Cary's been acting so off." he looked at his dad, "Guys, he could really hurt him! We have to figure out what's wrong."

Sherri and Caleb were in his guest bedroom, she was digging through the suitcase, angrily. He leaned against the doorframe folding his arms.

She found it.

Varenicline. It was a medication for violence. The jar however was unopened. And it had been at the bottom of the case.

She gritted her teeth, standing up, a chilling tone, "You haven't been taking your pills?"

He snatched it out of her hand, "I told you, I can handle things on my own now."

"BY BEATING A FOURTEEN YEAR OLD KID? THAT'S YOUR COUSIN!" She shouted, "THIS IS YOUR FAMILY YOUR HURTING!" He didn't talk, and Sherri wasn't liking the guiltless attitude he had she began hurdling towards the front door, "Wait until your father finds out," by the time she made it to the front, Caleb had grabbed her,

"If you decide to rat me out I'll swing a punch in your face!"

"You'd threaten your own mother to huh?" she kept a calm streak. She's dealt with him since the day he was in diapers. She could play him like a piano. "How dare you." she spit out.

He slapped her, she yelped in surprise.

"HEY!" he heard Will. He had seen through the window. He charged in grabbing his wrist, "Are you out of your mind?" he screamed. Now Nathan and Cary's parents were just confused as all hell. Nathan backed away towards the hallway,

"What is going on?" His father yelled, Sherri held up the pills,

"This."

"What's 'this'?"

"His medication! He's supposed to be taking them!"

Nathan walked to Cary's bedroom door, he went to turn the knob and push in the open it but only ended up slamming into the door, "Cary?" locked. Damn it. As the family argued he went to grab the same coin he used for the door. "Cary-" Window was open.

"_Fuck!"_

He found his car keys and opened the front doors, the parents were too busy yelling and fighting with each other for them to notice,

"I promise you it wasn't intentional!"

"YOU HURT MY SON!"

"Did I really hear you say you yanked him down some **stairs**?"

"This is why people treat you like this Caleb-"

-X-

Cary was violently throwing down piles of firecrackers on top of one another, back in the small field. He mentally swore and screamed as he tossed in some cherry bombs into the stack. He had brought his whole pack of explosives…60 tons. He snatched out the lighter, he knelt down, struggling to get the fire going. He snapped the latch about 5 times before he suddenly saw a shadow tower over him,

"My god; I found you." Nathan attempted to add comfort to his tone.

Cary just glared at him angrily before walking in the opposite direction, "Cary!" he began to chase after him, Cary didn't want to hear it, welting up on the inside, Nathan (accidentally) grabbed his bad arm, "Wait!"

"AH!" he breathed heavily out of the pain. Nathan raised a worried brow, rolling up Cary's sleeve, he saw the bruises and scratches.

"He did that?"

Cary snatched his arm away, "I don't want to talk about it anymore!"

"I do!" he grabbed his shoulders, "I believe you Cary…Aunt Sherri found his meds in his suitcase." Cary's eyes widened, "He's supposed to be taking them but he hasn't. That's why he's so unstable."

"Do mom and dad know I'm gone?"

"No. But I don't think they'd care at this point."

Cary meekly looked at him, hopeless pity in his eyes, "So…what's gonna happen now?"

Nathan pulled him in for a hug, not fun for Cary, "I don't know…" he kissed his head, "But…I should've known." Cary let in and patted his back,

"And I should've told you."

Nathan chuckled, "Guess we both screwed up in our own way huh Ghost Rider."

Cary smirked, pulling away, "So…Caleb's in trouble?"

Nathan laughed, "Well…he's an adult you know…so I'm not sure. Come on, lets go home and find out."

Cary grabbed his bag and explosives and hopped into the car with him. They walked back into the house to see everyone was in the living room, Amy jumped to her feet when she saw him,

"Cary!"

"Hey mom…" He observed how everyone was looking at him, all frightened, except for Caleb who had his arms crossed leaning against the wall. His dad looked at him,

"Show Caleb what he did to you."

Cary hesitated, staring at Caleb with both fear and hate in his eyes, "Go ahead." his dad assured.

Cary lifted the right leg of his jeans, showing the cuts and bruises. He saw everyone's expressions change to shock, fright, and confusion. Sherri just closed her eyes, holding the jar of Varenicline close to her mouth. Amy started nibbling on one of her fingernails in guilt as Will and his dad looked at each other,

"I'm sorry but…this vacations over…we'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

Cary's eyes widened, but he wasn't as thrilled as he thought he would be. He didn't say anything but his mom stood up,

"No!"

Will turned around, confused "What?"

"…I want him under arrest for domestic child abuse!" Cary's heart jumped as he watched his dad grab her,

"Honey, your overreacting," she shoved him off,

"No! No bastard hurts my son! Not even my nephew!"

"STOP!" Cary shouted. "I'll decide…but not right now! Just…everyone let me think!" he walked out of the front door, leaving everyone once again, he had been leaving them so many times he kept thinking. He didn't have any where else to go. Instead of running off he just sat down on the front steps of his home, it was almost time for the sun to go down and it was windier than most days. He could hear the muffled arguments of his family back inside. He was sure five minutes past when he heard the door open, he listened as someone came up and sat down next to him, it was Caleb. Cary suddenly scooted away,

"If you touch me-"

"Relax! I'm not gonna do anything to you anymore." he still sounded hateful, yet at the same time, he looked to empathic. He stared at the street ahead of them. An awkward moment of silence passed when he took a breath,

"I stopped taking my medication to see if I could handle myself without it…I guess I couldn't and my mind just…couldn't maintain control."

Cary turned his head at him, trying to get Caleb to look him in the eyes, "So…when you did those things…did you do them intentionally?"

Caleb bit his lip, "I did." he exclaimed, cleanly and simple.

"…Did you do it knowingly?"

"Yes."

Cary bit his lip, sliding his teeth back until it was in a normal position, "…Ok…" he wrapped his arms around his knees, looking back at the street.

"But why? Caleb if you knew you were dangerous why did you keep wandering around with me?" he half yelled.

"It wasn't personal Cary!" he was finally looking straight into his eyes, "Alright, the hair pulling, the yanking, the punch, the stairs-…It would've been anyone."

"But it was _me_!" he yelled on full throttle, "And I'm a person…with feelings! I just don't show them a lot but I do have them!" His heart was pounding, but he didn't care at this point, "And honestly…you really…**really **hurt them." His voice shook a little, it felt weird 'gushing'. Caleb didn't respond, he looked away. Just as Cary suspected. He stood up, climbing up the three steps,

"Hey…if you want to arrest me its ok."

Cary suddenly paused, turning around. "I deserve it…I should-Shouldn't have…" he surprisingly felt tears, "Hurt someone I love…so much…" Cary looked at him full of sympathy, "I mean, after my girlfriend-" he took the collar of his shirt, wiping his tears with it, "…I've just been…so messed up and hurting people."

Cary stayed quiet, he bit his lip walking inside, leaving Caleb. The family was now just discussing what was going on,

"Oh there he is, Cary!" His mother called, "Hey…did you decide yet."

"Um…yeah."

Caleb stepped in, Cary stared at him…having seen another side of him…Nathan tapped his shoulder, "Cary?"

"…No…I don't want him arrested."

Caleb's eyes widened, as did his mother, "Cary are you sure?"

"Yeah…um, but…I do want you to get him help." he looked at his aunt and uncle, "And…I want us…to eventually forget this…_please_." he moaned.

Amy walked over, hugging him lightly, he looked back at Caleb, he mouthed to him, 'thank you'.

-X-

They decided to leave that night, the three were loading the car up. The stars and crickets were out. Will and Amy were hugging,

"I'm so sorry this had to happen."

She sighed, kissing his cheek, "…Come back soon…when Caleb gets his own home."

Nathan was with Cary who was staring at an M-80 in his hand on his bed, "Hey…I think you showed them who's the better man today."

"…Then why do I feel so dumb?"

"Because…going through something like this is really hard to handle…but you kept yourself together and forgave him."

"I said I'd forget Nathan…I never said forgive." He admitted, rolling the little explosive in his hand.

He sighed, patting his shoulder and walking out, "I'm gonna say bye to the folks. Are you?"

"Already did." he dropped the explosive. Nathan walked out, bumping into Caleb as he exited.

"Cary,"

He looked at Caleb, "Y-yeah."

"I love you."

Cary's throat felt dry…his lungs empty. He didn't know what else…he didn't know if it'd be another ten years he saw him…he cleared his throat,

"I love you to…Caleb." He smiled.

Caleb smiled, they stared at each other for a second and he left the room. Cary took everything in that happened over the past few days…he breathed in. His side hurt a bit when he did though. He exhaled sliding off his bed and running to look out the front window.

The car was pulling out, and he watched until it was no longer in sight…Cary sighed, relieved.

"_I knew I could handle it."_

**The End**


End file.
